AMEBIC  AN  SOCIETY  OF  CIVIL  ENQINEERS. 

INSTITUTED    1852. 


TRANSACTIONS. 


INTERNATIONAL  ENGINEERING  CONGRESS, 
1904. 


THE  CONCURRENT  DEVELOPMENT 

OF  TRAFFIC  ON  IMPROVED  WATERWAYS 

AND  ON  RAILROADS. 


Congress  Paper  No.  30. 

By  Edward  P.  North,  M.  Am.  Soc.  C.  E., 
New  York  City,  U.  S.  A. 


Discussion  of  the  Subject  by 

Leo  Sympher,  Berlin,  Germany. 

Lionel  B.  Wells,  Manchester,  England. 

Th.  Hoech,  Kolberg,  Germany. 

Edward  P.  North,  New  York  City,  TJ.  S.  A. 


NoTX.— Figures  and  Tables  in  the  text  are  numbered  consecutively  through  the 
papers  and  discussions  on  each  subject. 


5 


1%^ 


TRANSACTIONS 
AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  CIVIL  ENGINEERS. 


J^  INTERNATIONAL   ENGINEERING  CONGRESS, 

$r  1904. 


Paper  No.  30. 


THE    CONCURRENT    DEVELOPMENT 

OF  TRAFFIC  ON  IMPROVED  WATERV^AYS 

AND  ON  RAILROADS. 

By  Edward  P.  North,  M.  Am.  Soc.  C.  E.,  New  York  City,  U.  S.  A. 


Although  there  is  a  general,  if  not  exact,  knowledge  that  the 
average  yield  of  wheat  per  acre  in  the  United  States  (13  bushels) 
is  only  about  43%  of  the  yield  in  the  United  Kingdom,  decidedly 
less  than  half  the  yield  of  Holland  and  Belgivim,  61%  of  the  German 
yield,  and  71%  of  that  of  France,  the  assertion  is  so  constantly 
made  that  the  phenomenal  prosperity  of  this  country  is  due  to  its 
superior  fertility  and  unequaled  natural  advantages,  that  there  is 
a  nearly  universal  acceptance  of  this  untrustworthy  statement  as 
to  fertility.  The  habit  of  accepting  authorities  rather  than  refer- 
ring to  facts  has  led  public  opinion  nearly  as  far  astray,  if  we 
take  the  output  of  coal  and  iron  as  a  standard  for  productive  wealth, 
as  is  usual. 

We  find  on  comparing  the  United  States  with  the  United  King- 
dom of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  that,  although  we  surpassed 
Great  Britain  in  our  make  of  pig  iron  in  1890,  and  mined  more 
coal  in  1899,  having  since  made  more  pig  iron  than  both  England 
and  Germany,  and  nearly  equaled  the  product  of  the  world  in  1880, 


/^  54106 


476 


TEAFFIC  ON   WATERWAYS  AND  RAILROADS. 


our  output  of  iron  per  capita  in  1900  was  but  83%  of  the  British, 
and  we  mined  only  58%  as  much  coal. 

The  production  of  coal  and  iron  in  the  United  States,  and  in 
four  European  countries,  both  for  equal  areas  and  per  capita  in 
1900,  is  set  forth  in  Table  1,  in  which  the  area  and  population 
of  Alaska  and  our  non-contiguous  islands  have  been  omitted,  and 
the  area,  production  and  population  of  Luxemburg,  are  added  to 
those  of  Germany: 

TABLE    1. 
Production  of  Coal  and  Piq  Iron. 


Coal  Mined. 

Pig  Iron  Produced. 

Tons  per 
square  mile. 

Tons 
per  capita. 

Tons  per 
square  uUe. 

Pounds 
per  capita. 

United  States 

79.56 

1  865.98 
714. 
161.24 

2  073.24 

3.17 
5.49 
2.65 
.86 
3.48 

4.55 
74.25 
40.61 
18.10 
89.73 

406 

United  Kingdom 

489 

Germany 

332 

155 

Belgium 

888 

Here  it  is  seen  that  our  natural  advantages  are  not  sufficiently 
greater  than  those  of  our  neighbors  to  explain  our  superior  pros- 
perity. The  possession  of  a  large  area  of  from  cheap  to  free  land 
has  undoubtedly  been  an  important  factor  in  our  increased  popu- 
lation, and  in  our  aggregate  wealth,  but  the  influence  of  this 
advantage  has  been  greatly  diminished  since  some  time  before  our 
development  gained  such  impetus,  and  our  14%  of  foreign-born 
population,  arriving  as  it  has  lately  almost  entirely  without  capital, 
must  have  decreased  our  wealth  per  capita.  Our  population  and 
wealth,  as  ascertained  by  our  Census  Bureau,  have  increased  as 
follows  for  the  years  mentioned: 

Population.  Aggr^ate  Wealth.  peT^pita 

1870 38  559  371  $30  068  518  000  $779.83 

1880 50155  783  42  642  000  000  850.20 

1890 62  222  250  65  037  091000  1038.57 

1900 76  303  387  94  300  000  000  1235.86 


TRAFFIC  ON   WATERWAYS   AND   RAILROADS.  477 

The  aggregate  wealth  has  increased  in  a  partially  satisfactory 
ratio,  but  during  the  past  30  years  the  wealth  of  individuals  in 
this  country  has  been  augmented  by  less  than  60  per  cent. 

In  one  great  source  of  national  wealth,  however,  viz.:  Cost  of 
transportation,  which  is  not  a  natural  product,  the  United  States 
has  an  undisputed  advantage  over  all  other  countries.  Shortly 
before  his  death,  Mulhall  said  that  the  average  rate  received  by 
railroads  of  different  countries  for  transporting  a  ton  of  freight  one 
mile  was,  reduced  to  cents:  United  Kingdom,  2.80;  Italy,  2.50; 
Russia,  2.40;  France,  2.20;  Germany,  1.64;  Belgium,  1.60;  Holland, 
1.56;  United  States,  0.8.  Acceptance  of  this  statistician's  figures 
as  approximately  correct,  will  immediately  show  that  our  low  cost 
of  internal  transportation  has  probably  been  the  principal  cause 
of  our  augmented  wealth;  an  augmentation  that  was  greater  in 
the  decade  ending  with  1900  than  during  the  80  years  preceding 
1870.  For  not  only  does  a  low  freight  rate  allow  more  to  be  divided 
between  producer  and  consumer,  but  it  has  a  more  potent  effect  in 
inviting  the  production  of  commodities  which  with  higher  freight 
charges  could  not  reach  consumers;  thus  adding  greatly  to  the 
employment  offered  to  labor  and  capital. 

Data  showing  the  beneficent  effect  of  low  freight  rates  on  pro- 
duction have  not  been  compiled,  and  any  estimate  is  as  liable  to  be 
governed  by  enthusiasm  as  by  knowledge.  But  reliance  is  placed 
on  "Poor's  Manual,"  the  United  States  Census  returns,  and  those 
of  the  Bureau  of  Statistics,  in  submitting  Table  2  as  showing 
the  direct  contributions  made  by  our  railroads  to  the  wealth  of 
the  Nation. 

The  highest  freight  rate  during  this  period  was,  in  1886,  1.067 
cents,  and  the  lowest,  1899,  0.726;  since  which  time  the  rate  has 
increased  by  about  5%  to  0.764. 

If  our  rates  had  remained  as  in  1885  we  would  have  paid 
$3  500  000  000  more  for  transporting  our  freight  than  we  did,  and 
if  our  freight  rates  had  been  equal  to  those  of  England,  as  stated 
by  Mulhall,  and  with  as  large  a  volume  of  business  possible  at  such 
rates,  the  cost  would  have  been  nearly  $33  000  000  000  greater,  or 
more  than  our  increase  in  wealth  during  the  last  decade.  There  is 
no  doubt  that  our  railroad  freight  rates  are  the  lowest  in  the  world, 
and  this  is  probably  true  also  of  our  coastwise  freight  rates.    Nor 


478 


TEArnC   ON   WATERWAYS   AND   RAILROADS. 


is  there  reason  to  doubt  that  the  low  cost  of  assembling  and  dis- 
tributing our  commodities  has  had  an  important  influence  on  their 
production  and  consumption. 

TABLE    2. 
Railroads  of  the  United  States. 


Years. 


1886-89 
1890-94 
1895-99 
1900-02 


^■2 
53  2 


596. 
717.4 
841.6 
1  116. 


60.528 
83.524  6 
104.. S71 
148.915 


-4 

5 

CD  « 

iS'SS 

gg 

|i 


602.4 
764. 
817.2 
1  125. 


113 
116 
124 
133 


«  t.  B 
•w  0,0 
aj  03  o 


0.995 

0.915 
0.783 
0.755 


Note.— Figures  in  2d,  3d  and  4th  columns  should  be  multiplied  by  1  000  000. 


It  is  noticeable  that  we  have  reached  this  distinctive  position 
as  transporters  with  the  highest  wages  paid  for  labor  known,  and 
until  lately  with  a  higher  cost  for  materials  than  our  neighbors  and 
competitors.  But  both  the  high  wages  and  high  prices  have,  by 
stimulating  production  and  consumption,  added  to  the  volume  of 
freight  moved  and  reduced  its  cost. 

One  influence  making  for  our  general  prosperity,  which  should 
not  be  lost  sight  of,  is  the  universal  desire  for  useful  development, 
which,  at  least  avowedly,  has  governed  our  financial  projects.  In 
1840,  the  French  economist,  Michel  Chevalier,  wrote  after  a  visit 
to  this  country: 

"There  are  certainly  wild  speculators,  blind  and  desperate 
gamblers  here  also;  but  the  objects  of  their  schemes  are  almost 
always  objects  of  utility.  The  spirit  of  speculation  has  strewn  this 
country  with  useful  works — canals,  railroads,  turnpikes,  with  manu- 
factories, farms,  villages  and  towns;  amongst  us  it  has  been  more 
rash,  wild  and  foolish  and  much  less  productive  in  useful  results. 
It  is  with  us  mere  stock -jobbing." 

A  like  view  was  held  as  late  as  May  26th,  1899,  by  The  Engineer, 
which  said: 


TRAFFIC   ON    WATERWAYS   AND   RAILROADS.  479 

"Another  phase  of  the  national  character  has  not  received  half 
the  attention  it  deserves.  Such  a  man  as  Hooley  is  impossible  in 
the  United  States.  *  »  *  The  drift  of  speculation  is  different. 
Company  mongering  as  it  is  practiced  here  has  no  existence  in  the 
United  States.  There  is  plenty  of  dishonesty  and  wrong  doing,  but 
it  is  wholly  different  in  kind,  and  on  the  whole  very  much  less  harm- 
fuL  Nay,  indeed,  it  is  very  often  indirectly  beneficial.  Thus,  for 
example,  the  formation  of  a  copper  trust  leads  to  the  development 
of  new  sources  of  supply,  and  the  ultimate  cheapening  of  the  metal." 

While  it  is  possible  the  last  quoted  view  would  not  be  written 
to-day,  the  effect  on  our  freight  rates  of  over  100  years  of  steady 
devotion  to  developing  our  transportation  and  production  should 
not  be  overlooked.  And  it  is  possible  we  are  better  able  to  endure 
some  stock-jobbing  of  the  Hooley  kind  than  other  peoples. 

Accompanying  our  general  honesty  of  purpose  we  have  had 
until  lately  freedom  from  those  laws  based  on  the  theory  of  vested 
interests  which  are  used  both  to  prevent  improvements  and  solidify 
monopolies,  while  our  development  has  been  aided  by  subsidies  of 
various  kinds  from  both  State  Governments  and  the  General  Govern- 
ment, to  which  local  aid  has  often  been  added. 

Since  our  organization  as  a  nation  we  have  been  pre-eminent  for 
the  energy  and  persistence  with  which  we  have  developed  and  im- 
proved such  aid  to  our  wealth  as  is  offered  by  water  transportation. 
Improvement  of  the  Mohawk  west  of  Schenectady,  the  precursor  of 
the  Erie  Canal,  commenced  with  the  adoption  of  our  constitution, 
and  concurrently  the  navigation  of  many  streams  falling  into  the 
Atlantic  was  improved  and  extended.  Our  canal-building  era  was 
virtuaUy  inaugurated  by  the  building  of  the  Erie  Canal  connecting 
the  navigable  waters  of  the  Hudson  River  with  all  of  our  Great 
Lakes  under  legislation  by  the  State  of  New  York  in  1816.  The 
great  influence  of  this  canal  after  its  completion  in  1825,  with  its 
branches,  on  land  values,  and  its  success  as  a  channel  for  transporta- 
tion, led  not  only  to  more  or  less  successful  efforts  to  connect  the 
James,  the  Potomac,  the  Delaware  and  the  lakes  above  Niagara 
with  the  affluents  of  the  Mississippi,  and  to  many  less  important 
projects,  but  also  to  such  an  enlargement  of  the  Erie  Canal,  author- 
ized in  1835,  that  the  burden  of  boats  could  be  increased  from 
40  to  240  tons. 

The   improvement   of  rivers,   mentioned   above,   was  generally 


480  TRAFFIC   ON   WATEBWAYS   AND   RAILROADS. 

made  by  companies  operating  under  State  Charters.  The  canals 
were  generally  built  directly  by  the  States  in  which  they  were 
situated,  but  were  sometimes  aided  by  National  land  grants  or 
appropriations  of  money.  Tolls  were  charged  on  both  rivers  and 
canals,  and  are  still  charged  on  some  State  Canals.  The  canals  of 
the  State  of  New  York  were  not  made  toll  free  until  1883.  Nearly 
all  of  these  canals  assisted  materially  in  the  development  of  the 
country  through  which  they  passed,  but  as  few  of  them  were 
navigable  by  boats  of  over  60  tons  burden  their  value  to  the  public 
quickly  fell  after  the  trains  on  competing  railroads  could  carry 
more  than  the  boats.  But  in  their  time  they  added  largely  to  those 
margins  over  the  cost  of  living  which  formed  the  capital  necessary 
for  building  the  railroads  that  sui)erseded  them. 

The  net  area  of  lands  granted  by  Congress  to  States,  Territories 
and  Corporations  has  been :  In  aid  of  railroads,  162  000  000  acres ; 
in  aid  of  canals,  4  433  000  acres ;  in  aid  of  wagon  roads,  2  554  700 
acres ;  168  987  700  acres  in  all. 

On  the  6th  of  April,  1802,  the  United  States  entered  on  its  policy 
of  River  and  Harbor  Improvements  with  an  appropriation  of 
$30  000  for  the  improvement  of  the  Delaware  River.  Up  to  March 
3d,  1903,  the  sums  appropriated  on  this  account  have  reached  the 
aggregate  of  $451 344  907.20.  During  the  58  years  ending  with 
1860  but  a  little  more  than  $16  500  000,  or  less  than  4%  of  this  sxim, 
had  been  appropriated.  Taking  the  appropriations  for  these 
improvements  by  decades  we  have: 

1861-70 $17 290 445.80 

1871-80 60  440  417.96 

1881-90 Ill  687  724.36 

1891-1900 175  372  564.22 

1901-March  3d,  1903 70  067  231.24 

Approximately  55%  of  this  sum  has  been  expended  on  the 
improvement  of  rivers,  35%  on  harbors  and  10%  on  canals.  Mr. 
Alfred  Noble,  in  his  address  as  President  of  the  American  Society 
of  Civil  Engineers,  June  9th,  1903,  puts  the  total  expenditure  by 
Government  for  all  harbors  and  waterways  on  the  Lakes  above 
Niagara,  as  $68  000  000.  Of  this  sum  probably  a5out  $40  000  000 
has  gone  to  Lake  harbors. 


TRAFFIC  ON   WATEEWAYS   AND  RAILROADS.  481 

Excepting  a  few  instances,  and  then  but  for  a  short  time,  the 
rivers,  harbors  and  canals  improved  and  built  by  our  Government 
have  been  absolutely  free  from  charges  for  their  use.  While  a 
large  proportion  of  the  money  expended  for  improvements  has  gone 
to  important  centers,  and  the  main  lines  of  distribution,  minor 
streams  and  small  harbors,  have  not  been  neglected,  as  advised  by 
many  who  vainly  endeavored  to  direct  public  opinion.  On  the 
contrary,  they  have  secured  about  their  full  share  of  consideration 
and  the  country  has  not  been  robbed  by  the  city,  to  the  loss  of  both. 

Although  two  short  roads  had  been  built  or  commenced  before 
this,  our  trunk  line  railroad  building  was  inaugurated  consequent  on 
"a  meeting  of  a  number  of  citizens  to  take  into  consideration  the 
best  means  of  restoring  to  the  City  of  Baltimore,  that  portion 
of  the  Western  Trade,  which  has  lately  been  diverted  from  it  by  the 
introduction  of  Steam  Navigation,  and  by  other  causes,"  held  in 
the  City  of  Baltimore,  February  12th,  1827.  This  meeting  resulted 
in  a  charter  for  building  a  railroad  from  Baltimore  to  the  Ohio 
River.  At  substantially  the  same  time,  May,  1828,  Congress 
appropriated  $1  000  000  in  aid  of  the  Chesapeake  and  Ohio  Canal, 
which  was  also  to  connect  the  waters  of  Chesapeake  Bay  with  the 
Ohio.  The  Hudson  and  Mohawk  Eailroad,  which  has  developed 
into  the  New  York  Central  and  Hudson  River  Eailroad,  was  built 
to  abridge  the  delay  to  canal  traffic  caused  by  the  22  locks  between 
the  Hudson  River  and  the  Schenectady  level  of  the  Erie  Canal. 
The  Boston  and  Albany  was  built  to  divert  trade  at  the  Eastern 
terminue  of  the  Erie  Canal  from  New  York  to  Boston.  The  South 
Carolina  road  was  projected  to  connect  the  harbor  of  Charleston, 
with  the  Ohio  at  Cincinnati. 

The  first  roads  were  built  under  special  charters,  which  wore 
generally  obtained  without  difficulty,  except  in  such  cases  as  the 
Pennsylvanian's  objection  to  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  reaching 
Pittsburg,  on  the  no  doubt  honest  plea  that  there  could  not  be 
traffic  enough  for  two  roads.  The  menace  to  invested  capital,  now 
so  strenuously  insisted  on,  is  a  doctrine  hardly  25  years  old  with 
us.  Afterwards  the  more  enlightened  States  passed  general  railroad 
laws,  under  which  any  persons  filing  the  requisite  papers  became 
a  body  corporate,  and  could  make  the  necessary  surveys,  and  biiild 
as  much  road  as  they  could  finance.    It  is  believed  that  only  one 


482  TRAFFIC   ON   AVATERWAYS   AND   RAILROADS. 

State,  New  York,  ever  penalized  a  railroad.  The  Utica  and 
Schenectady,  now  a  part  of  the  New  York  Central  and  Hudson 
Uiver  Railroad,  was  for  a  time  prohibited  from  carrying  freight, 
■whether  the  canal  was  closed  by  ice  or  not,  and  the  railroads  which 
"formed  that  system  paid  canal  tolls  to  the  State  on  all  freight 
-carried  until  1851. 

The  Government  of  the  TTnited  States  gave  a  great  impetus 
to  railroad  building  by  its  legislation  of  September  20th,  1850, 
giving  to  a  trunk  line  railroad  between  Lake  Michigan  and  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico,  substantially,  six  square  miles  of  land  for  each 
linear  mile  built.  This  aid  was  so  continued  that  every  State  and 
Territory  west  of  the  Mississippi  and  five  States  east  of  it,  viz., 
Alabama,  Illinois,  Mississippi,  Michigan  and  "Wisconsin,  are  in- 
debted to  land  grants,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  for  their  trans- 
portation facilities.  In  aid  of  the  Texas  Pacific  the  land  grant  was 
40  square  miles,  through  the  Territories,  per  mile  of  road.  The 
Union  and  Central  Pacific  Railroads,  with  some  of  their  branches, 
in  addition  to  a  land  grant  of  20  square  miles  per  mile  of  road, 
amounting  to  nearly  32  000  000  acres,  secured  a  loan  of  Government 
6%  30-year  bonds,  varying  with  the  difiiculty  of  construction  from 
$16  000  and  $32  000  to  $48  000  per  mile.  This  loan  was  in  the 
aggregate  $62  652  952,  of  which  the  Union  Pacific  received 
$27  236172  and  the  Central  Pacific  received  $25  885120.  These 
loans  were  repaid  with  outstanding  interest  in  or  about  1898, 
excepting  a  small  default  on  the  part  of  one  of  the  branch  roads. 
This  combined  aid  was  sufficient  to  induce  the  Union  Pacific  to  build 
535  miles  in  one  year  and  20  days. 

The  accompanying  diagrams.  Figs.  1  and  2,  made  by  F.  W. 
Hewes,  Esq.,  for  Scribner's,  "The  American  Railway,"  show  the 
development  of  our  railroads  in  1850  with  the  influence  of  land 
grants  in  1860  and  1870,  the  year  after  the  first  Pacific  Railroad 
was  completed.  The  direct  and  indirect  influence  of  land  and 
credit  subsidies  can  be  plainly  seen  by  comparing  these  diagrams 
with  a  railroad  map  of  to-day.  They  have  probably  hurried  the 
settlement  of  the  West  by  fully  20  years.  But  the  fact  that  the 
Homestead  law  was  passed  in  1862  should  not  be  overlooked  in  this 
connection. 

The  British  Government,  according  to  the  report  of  a  "Com- 


TRAFFIC  ON   WATERWAYS   AND  RAILROADS.  483 

mittee  on  Contract  Packets"  made  in  1863,  subsidized  its  main 
lines  of  steamers  "to  afford  a  rapid,  frequent  and  punctual  com- 
munication with  those  distant  ports  which  feed  the  main  arteries 
of  British  commerce,  etc.";  refusing  aid  to,  if  not  oppressing, 
internal  communication.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Government  of 
the  United  States,  and  also  individual  States,  coimties  and  localities, 
subsidized  its  turnpikes,  watercourses  and  railroads  almost  entirely 
for  the  improvement  of  internal  communications,  and  neglected 
or  oppressed  our  efforts  to  reach  distant  ports.  England  is  pre-emi- 
nent as  a  ship  building  and  ship  sailing  country,  but  its  people 
pay  the  highest  internal  freight  rates  known.  America  now  has 
a  contemptible  merchant  marine,  but  its  internal  freight  is  handled 
at  a  rate  unapproached  in  other  countries.  If,  as  has  been  lately 
urged,  our  Government  was  unable  to  develop  at  one  time  both 
foreign  and  internal  communications,  it  has  apparently  adopted  the 
most  profitable  alternative,  though  our  annual  payments  to 
foreigners  for  over-sea  freights  are  said  to  exceed  the  receipts  from 
either  Custom  dues  or  the  Internal  Revenue  tax. 

While  the  land  subsidies  granted  by  our  Government  in  aid 
of  turnpikes,  canals,  colleges,  etc.,  have  not  generally  hurried  the 
lands  granted  into  cultivation,  it  is  noticeable  that  in  the  case  of 
land  granted  to  railroads  the  recipients  have  had  a  financial  interest, 
strong  enough  to  be  a  governing  interest,  in  its  quick  distribution 
in  small  holdings,  as  the  possible  ultimate  value  of  the  land  is 
secondary  to  the  development  of  traffic  on  the  road.  And  the  Immi- 
gration Bureau  is  greatly  aided  in  its  efforts  by  low  freight  rates. 
As  the  cost  of  transportation  is  vital  in  the  eyes  of  the  prospective 
buyer,  its  cost  has  been  kept  down  on  non-competitive  branches. 
The  beneficent  results  following  the  practices  of  the  land-grant 
aided  raib-oads  have  not,  however,  prevented  the  "friends  of  the 
plain  people"  exhibiting  fierce  opposition  to  the  development  of  our 
unsettled  areas  through  the  aid  of  land  grants  or  other  forms  of 
subsidies. 

Under  the  combined  influences  of  local.  State  and  National 
encouragement  with  the  competition  from  watercourses  which  were 
being  increased  in  capacity,  the  mileage  of  our  railroads  has 
increased  as  given  in  Table  3,  to  which  is  added  the  population 
per  mile,  and  the  total  of  our  foreign  commerce  in  merchandise  for 
the  years  mentioned : 


484 


TRAFFIC   ON   WATERWAYS   AND   RAILROADS. 


TRAFFIC  ON   WATERWAYS   AND   RAILROADS. 


485 


486  TRAFFIC  ON   WATEEWAYS   AND  EAILEOADS. 

TABLE   3. 


Total 
mileage. 

Bunt 
per  decade. 

Inhabitants 

per  mile  of 

railroad. 

Foreign 

commerce, 

excluding  gold 

and  Sliver. 

1830 

23 

2  818 
9  021 
30  626 
52  922 
93  282 
166  664 
175  170 
194  334 
203  132 

■2795 
6  203 

21  605 

22  296 
40  340 
73  892 

27'686 
8  798 

560  000 
6  057 
2  571 
1  027 
729 
538 
375.7 
371.0 
389.5 
389.0 

$134  391  691 

1840 

221  927  688 

1850 

317  885  252 

1860 

687  192  176 

1870 

828  730  176 

1880 

1  503  593  404 

1890 

1  647  139  093 

1892 

1900 

2  244  424  266 

1903 

2  445  860  916 

The  niunber  of  inhabitants  per  mile  of  road  is  interpolated  for 
1892,  when  it  was  at  the  minimum;  since  that  date  the  number  has 
increased  by  almost  5  per  cent.  In  the  six  years  including  1893 
and  '98,  only  11  640  miles  were  built  or  about  26.5%  of  the  average 
yearly  building  in  the  preceding  decade.  This  decreased  building 
was  partly  due  to  a  well  known  loss  of  commercial  confidence  during 
the  years  mentioned,  and  possibly  to  a  rumored  imderstanding 
between  financiers  interested  in  railroads,  that  no  more  competing 
lines  should  be  encouraged.  This  understanding  was  arrived  at 
before  1890,  and  the  fact  that  in  the  six  years  above  mentioned 
46  646  miles  of  railroad  were  sold  under  foreclosure  proceedings, 
will  probably  for  some  time  aid  in  curtailing  the  extension  of  rail- 
roads in  this  country. 

The  free  development  of  railroad  building  and  the  fall  in  freight 
rates  have  also  been  impeded  by  the  action  of  State  Railroad  Com- 
missions. The  first  of  these,  for  the  State  of  Maine,  was  appointed 
in  1853.  There  are  now  34  of  them.  At  first  their  action  was 
doubtless  beneficent,  but  in  some  States  the  appointment  of  com- 
missioners seems  a  perquisite  of  the  railroads,  and,  as  notably  in 
the  State  of  New  York,  it  seems  virtually  impossible  for  an  oppressed 
community  to  secure  better  accommodations  or  lower  rates  by 
investing  their  own  money  in  a  raiboad  which  may  reduce  the 
profits  of  an  existing  line.  All  such  efforts  being  apparently  held 
by  the  commissioners,  as  well  as  the  stockholders  of  existing  lines, 
to  be  a  piratical  venture  and  a  speculative  strike  of  more  or  less 
colossal  magnitude. 


TRAFFIC  ON   WATERWAYS   AND   RAILROADS. 


487 


The  value  of  our  Railroad  Commissions  generally  to  vested 
interests,  may  be  partly  judged  from  the  subjoined  table  showing 
the  density  of  traffic,  freight  rates,  etc.,  for  1900  in  the  8  groups 
into  which  "Poor's  Manual"  divides  our  railroads. 

TABLE    4. 


•• 

w   r 

t-i 

'ii 

•6 

p 

:2 

M 
©■ 

A 

o 

d 

H 

d 

a 

i 

si* 

H 

M 

■3.H 

Hi 

1^ 

Groups: 
No.    of  States 

T. 

II. 

III. 

IV. 

V. 

VI. 

VII. 

VIII. 

with     commis- 

sions  

6 

66  465 
5  592  017 

1 

116  530 
IT  100  17-) 

4 

2*9  015 
15  985  581 

5 

268  205 
8  791983 

5 

230230 
8  929  832 

5 

768  060 
10  462  835 

5 

609  315 
6106128 

3 

Area 

717  060 

Population 

Miles  of  R.  R 

8  020  479 

7  501 

22  385 

41  138 

21917 

16  211 

37  530 

32165 

15  486 

Tons  per  mile  of 

R.  R 

6980 
1.16 

17  951 
0.61 

5  521 
0.69 

2  879 
0.69 

4167 
0.83 

1936 
1.00 

2628 
0.95 

1  791 

Ton-mile  rate 

0.97 

Population    per 
mile  of  R.  R.... 

715.3 

764.2 

388.6 

401.1 

550.8 

278.8 

289.8 

195.0 

Square  miles  per 

mlleof  K.  R.... 

&86 

5.21 

6.05 

12.24 

1420 

20.47 

18.94 

46.30 

This  table  is  not  submitted  as  conclusive,  but  it  may  be  noticed 
that  the  railroads  of  New  England,  dominated  by  the  most  respect- 
able and  highly  appreciated  Commission,  exact  the  most  onerous 
charges  on  traffic  known  in  this  country,  and  have  driven  nearly 
all  heavy  manufacturing  out  of  their  territory. 

The  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  is  directed  by  the  General 
Government  to  take  cognizance  of  discriminations  and  combina- 
tions in  restraint  of  transportation  as  administered  for  the  general 
good,  but  it  is  not  empowered  to  encourage  railroad  building  as  a 
remedy  for  injustice.  In  fact,  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
has  no  right  of  eminent  domain  in  any  State  of  the  Union,  and 
as  it  has  alienated  nearly  all  its  land,  cannot  encourage  railroad 
building  outside  of  the  Territories.* 

Note.  —The  author  is  indebted  to  Mr.  Brooks  Adams  for  the  following  correction: 
"The  United  States  Hovernment  has  plenary  powers  over  interstate  commerce,  and 
may.  therefore,  build  any  roads  it  likes,  provided  they  are  interstate;  may  charter  cor- 
porations; may  take  State  roads,  and  may  police  them." 


488  TRAFFIC   ON    WATERWAYS   AND   RAILROADS. 

A  considerable  percentage  of  the  451  million  dollars  appropri- 
ated by  the  General  Government  for  the  improvement  of  rivers  and 
harbors,  has  been  expended  on  isolated  or  semi-isolated  projects, 
where  the  statistics  covering  the  consequent  development  of  traffic 
are  not  available  without  great  research.  In  other  cases  like  the 
18  500  000  net  tons  of  freight  traffic  found  12  years  ago  on  the 
Hudson  River,  or  the  11 610  000  tons  of  freight  carried  on  11 
improved  tributaries  of  the  Ohio  in  1902,  as  reported  by  the  Depart- 
ment of  Commerce  and  Labor,  no  idea  of  the  cost  of  freightage  is 
given.  Nor  are  the  rates  charged  on  the  total  traffic  of  the  Great 
Lakes  given  in  the  report  of  the  same  Department,  which  gives  the 
average  arrivals  and  departures  in  domestic  trade  for  the  two  years 
1902-03  for  which  statistics  have  been  gathered  as  74  390  000  and 
74  340  000  net  tons  of  f  reiglit.  During  the  same  two  years  the 
average  imports  of  foreign  merchandise  at  these  Lake  ports  have 
been  valued  at  $61 187  000  and  the  exports  at  $88  076  000. 

As  the  natural  depth  at  most  harbors  on  the  Great  Lakes  was 
about  6  ft.,  and  not  more  than  8  ft.  could  be  carried  over  the  St. 
Clair  Flats,  above  Detroit,  this  large  traffic  would  be  impossible 
without  the  increased  depths  made  by  the  expenditures  authorized 
by  the  various  River  and  Harbor  bills.  The  first  appropriation, 
1823,  was  for  the  harbor  of  Erie.  Ohio  followed  in  1825  with  appro- 
priations for  Cleveland  and  Fairport.  Buffalo  did  not  get  an  appro- 
priation from  the  General  Government  until  1826;  Chicago  in 
1833,  and  the  St.  Clair  Flats  received  its  first  appropriation,  $20  000, 
in  1852. 

In  the  last  mentioned  year,  Congress  gave  the  State  of  Michigan 
750  000  acres  of  public  land  in  aid  of  a  canal  connecting  Lake 
Superior  with  Michigan,  Huron  and  Erie.  This  canal,  built  for 
the  State  by  an  incorporated  company  to  which  the  land  was  trans- 
ferred, was  opened  June  18th,  1855,  with  two  locks  of  9  ft.  lift,  each 
350  by  70  by  Hi  to  12  ft.,  to  overcome  the  18  ft.  difference  of  level 
at  the  Falls  of  St.  Mary,  or,  as  it  is  generally  known,  the  "Soo." 
The  General  Government  took  over  this  canal  from  the  State  of 
Michigan,  June  9th,  1881,  and  completed  the  "Weitzel"  lock,  515  by 
80  by  17  ft.,  September  1st,  1881,  and  the  "Poe"  lock,  800  by  100  by  22 
ft.,  August  3d,  1896.  The  Canadian  Government  had  in  the  mean- 
time built  a  lock  900  by  60  by  22  ft.,  opened  September  9th,  1895. 


TRAFFIC   ON   WATERWAYS   AND   RAILROADS. 


489 


These  figures  are  from  the  "Statistical  Eeport  on  Lake  Commerce," 
1903.  The  depths  of  Lake  channels,  in  general,  have  been  less  than 
the  depths  on  the  lock  sills.  Tolls  amounting  to  $778  128.41  were 
collected  on  the  19  414  242  net  registered  tons  of  shipping  passing 
through  the  canal  in  the  26  years,  including  1880,  that  the  canal 
remained  State  property.  They  were  6  cents  per  net  registered  ton 
until  1871,  4i  cents  until  1879,  and  after  that  3  cents.  Since  1880 
the  traffic  through  both  the  American  and  Canadian  locks  has 
been  free. 

We  are  fortunate  in  having  the  net  tonnage  passing  through  the 
canal  from  its  opening,  and  since  1887  the  IT.  S.  Engineers  in 
charge  of  the  canal,  with  the  co-operation  of  those  in  charge  of  the 
Canadian  Canal,  have  kept  and  published  statistics  which  are  among 
the  most  valuable  in  the  history  of  transportation.  From  these  data 
Tables  5,  6  and  7  have  been  compiled. 


TABLE  5.— Freight  Tons  Passing  the  Sod. 


Year. 

Tons. 

Total  Value. 

Value 
per  Ton. 

1851.... 

12  600 

88  000 

585  000 

1568  000 

8889  000 

2S  403  065 

34  674  487 

$1  675  000 

6000  000 

13  000  000 

30  000  000 

128  000  000 

289  916  865 

349  405  014 

$183.00 
68.00 
22.00 
19.00 
14.50 
10.80 
10.08 

1861 

1871 

1881 ;;!.■.■;■■■■ 

1891 

1901 

1908 

T^BLE    6.— Net    Eegistered    Tonnage    Passing    the    Locks    at 
Sault  Ste.  Marie  (The  Soo). 


Year. 

Tonnage. 

Year. 

Tonnage. 

Year. 

1876 

Tonnage. 

f 
Year. 

Tonnage. 

Year. 

Tonnage. 

1856 

106  296 

1865 

409  062 

1259  534 

!  1886 

3  086  937 

1896 

16  806  781 

1866 

101  458 

1866 

458  680 

1S?6 

1  541  676 

1886 

4  219  897 

1896 

17  249  418 

1867 

180  820 

1867 

556  899 

1877 

1489  216 

1887 

4  897  698 

1897 

17  619  988 

1858 

219819 

1868 

482  563 

1878 

1667136 

1888 

5  130  659 

1898 

18  622  7.')4 

1859 

858  642 

1869 

624  885 

1879 

1677  071 

1889 

7  221936 

1899 

21  9.'i8  847 

1860 

403  657 

1870 

690  826 

1880 

1734  890 

1890 

8  454  486 

1900 

82  316  884 

1861 

276  689 

1871 

752  101 

1881 

2  092  767 

1891 

8  400  686 

1901 

24  626  976 

1862 

859  612 

1872 

914  735 

1882 

2468  088 

1898 

10  647  208 

1902 

31955  582 

1868 

507  434 

1878 

1204  446 

1883 

2  042  259 

1898 

8  949  754 

1908 

87  786  444 

1864 

671488 

1874 

1070  867 

1884 

8997  887 

1894 

18110  366 

490 


TRAFFIC  ON   WATERWAYS   AND  R.ULROADS. 


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TRAFFIC   ON"  WATERWAYS   AND   RAILROADS.  491 

The  values  given  in  Tables  5  and  7  are  values  on  the  docks  at 
points  of  delivery,  and  the  freight  rates  include  loading  and 
unloading.  Exact  value  is  not  claimed  for  either  the  several 
items,  or  the  total,  of  Column  8  in  Table  7.  For  water-borne 
freight  is  always  of  a  lower  average  classification  than  railroad 
freight.  But  as  during  the  16  years,  ending  with  1902,  that  the 
Engineer  Officers  of  our  army  have  kept  reliable  statistics  of  the 
traffic  through  the  "Soo,"  the  difference  on  an  equal  classification 
between  the  actual  and  railroad  charges  is  nearly  four  times  the 
total  expenditures  for  River  and  Harbor  improvements  by  the 
Government,  it  is  not  necessary  to  be  rigorously  exact  to  show  that 
the  expenditures  authorized  were  reproductive  expenditures.  Mr. 
Noble,  in  the  paper  above  quoted,  says  of  the  traffic  of  1902,  which 
he  compares  with  a  charge  by  rail  of  only  3  mills  per  ton-mile :  "This 
amount  of  saving  on  Lake  Superior  commerce  alone,  during  a  single 
year,  is  within  $5  000  000  of  the  entire  amount  appropriated  by  the 
United  States  for  all  harbors  and  waterways  on  the  Lakes  above 
Niagara  Falls  from  the  formation  of  the  Government;  if  the  com- 
merce between  Lake  Michigan  and  Lake  Erie  be  included,  the 
annual  saving  greatly  exceeds  the  amount  thus  appropriated."     - 

As  only  41^  of  the  958J  statute  miles  between  Duluth  and 
Buffalo  have  required  improvement  to  accommodate  vessels  of 
20-ft.  draft,  and  the  same  improvement  has  sufficed  for  the  885 
miles  between  Chicago  and  Buffalo,  the  combined  traffic  on  these 
routes  being  without  an  eqi;al  in  any  other  channel,  no  other  im- 
provement undertaken  by  our  Government  has  had  so  beneficent  an 
effect  on  our  national  wealth,  nor,  it  is  possible,  has  returned  so 
large  a  dividend  on  the  mbney  expended.  But  many  instances  have 
been  mentioned  in  our  local  papers  where  the  savings  on  increased 
freightage  have  returned  from  30  to  60%  for  the  year  on  the  cost 
of  the  improvement. 

In  consequence  of  repeated  comparisons  like  that  of  Mr.  Noble, 
the  first  of  which  it  is  thought  appeared  in  1890,  neither  those  so 
educated  that  they  can  see  no  significance  in  the  inverse  relation 
between  the  value  per  unit  and  the  volume  of  Lake  freight,  nor 
any  advocate  of  supposed  railroad  interests,  can  any  longer  secure 
respectful  auditors  to  the  phrase,  "River  and  Harbor  Steal,"  which 


492  TRAFFIC   OX    WATERWAYS   AND   RAILROADS. 

for  many  years  was  applied  to  Congressional  effort  to  increase  the 
national  wealtli  by  decreasing  the  cost  of  internal  transportation, 
and  the  claim  by  obstructionists  that  any  appreciable  percentage  of 
the  River  and  Harbor  appropriations  is  non-productive  and  wasted, 
no  longer  receives  consideration. 

It  is  not  proposed  to  refer  to  the  economies,  many  of  them 
calling  for  large  expenditures,  by  means  of  which  our  railroads  have 
become  the  chief  of  the  labor  saving  appliances,  not  only  of  this 
country  but  of  the  world.  But  aside  from  the  influence  of  our, 
one  time,  free  railroad  building,  these  economies  have  in  almost 
all  instances  been  forced  on  our  railroad  managers  by  the  com- 
petition of  improved  waterways;  which  while  their  traffic  fed,  and 
was  fed  by,  the  railroads,  cut  rates  to  an  extent  that  called  out 
high  intellectual  effort  in  the  attempt  to  compete  on  a  paying  basis. 
This  competition  has  resulted  in  our  being  able  to  produce  and 
ship  a  third  more  freight  per  capita,  despite  oiir  longer  haul,  than 
any  other  people,  and  has  filled  our  country  with  consumers,  who, 
as  James  Bryce  says  in  his  "American  Commonwealth,"  "allow 
themselves  luxuries  such  ac  the  masses  enjoy  in  no  other  country." 
And  the  traffic  in  luxuries  as  well  as  in  passengers  is  generally 
transported  by  rail. 

There  has  been  one  noticeable  instance  in  which  the  railroads  led 
in  improvements  to  waterways,  forcing  the  deepening  of  the  Lake 
channels.  This  was  a  consequence  of  the  rate  wars  of  the  Seventies, 
which  covered  much  of  the  United  States,  but  was  most  intense 
between  the  roads  connecting  Chicago  with  New  York.  Under 
this  rivalry  the  Lake  commerce  seemed  to  be  dying.  The  situation 
at  that  time  is  tersely  and  ably  described  in  the  "Report  of  the 
Committee  on  Canals  of  New  York  State,  1899,"  made  to  then 
Governor,  now  President,  Roosevelt.    It  says: 

"In  18Y5  the  total  tonnage  on  the  lakes  was  nearly  600  000  tons. 
*  *  *  The  traffic,  as  estimated  by  entrances  and  clearances  at 
American  ports,  was  for  that  year  about  15  000  000  tons. 

"This  development  had,  however,  been  secured  without  any 
material  increase  in  the  size  of  the  vessels  in  use — a  limit  being 
placed  on  size  by  the  depth  of  water  in  the  harbors  and  in  the 
channels  connecting  Lake  Erie  and  Lake  Superior  with  Lake  Huron- 
Michigan.  By  1875  the  advance  in  railroad  construction  and  manage- 


TRAFFIC   ON    AVATERWAYS   AND   RAILROADS.  493 

ment  had  reached  a  point  which  enabled  the  raiboads  to  compete 
wi.h  the  lake  vessels;  and  when  to  this  was  added  the  railroad  rate 
wars  of  the  next  few  years  there  was  not  only  a  cessation  of  increase 
in  lake  commerce,  but  a  positive  decline  both  in  equipment  and 
traiBc.  New  construction  of  vessels,  which  had  reached  as  high  as 
73  000  tons  in  1S74,  was  only  7  000  tons  in  1877,  and  averaged  only 
13  000  tons  a  year  for  the  five  years  ending  in  1880.  In  the  latter 
year  all  the  vessels  on  the  lakes  aggregated  only  560  000  tons,  30  000 
less  than  five  years  before. 

"The  beginning  of  the  new  decade  marked  a  significant  revival 
in  lake  commerce,  which  cannot  be  disconnected  from  the  improve- 
ments in  lake  harbors  and  channels  undertaken  by  the  national 
goyeniment.  The  most  important  work  brought  to  completion  at 
this  time  was  the  opening  of  the  ship  canal  with  an  18-ft.  draft, 
which  took  the  place  of  the  10-ft.*  canal  and  locks  maintained  by  the. 
State  of  Michigan  at  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  but  other  works  were  well 
under  way,  which  have  had  for  their  ultimate  aim  the  securing 
of  20  ft.  of  water  in  all  the  main  channels  and  important  harbors 
on  the  lakes." 

If  the  existence  of  the  Lake  business  aa  well  as  the  Lake  marine, 
had  not  been  threatened  by  the  development  of  improved  methods 
of  conducting  railroad  traffic,  it  may  be  doubted  if  Government 
would  have  received  sufficient  support  to  justify  it  in  entering  on 
the  heavy  expenditures  necessary  for  navigable  channels  18  and 
eventually  20  ft.  in  depth.  There  is  always  available  such  testi- 
mony as  was  given  in  1870,  by  one  prominent  in  Lake  commerce: 

"It  had  been  clearly  established  that  vessels  of  over  700  or  800 
tons  were  not  so  profitable  on  the  Lakes  as  vessels  of  a  smaller  size. 
Nature  has  placed  barriers  in  front  of  most  of  our  harbors,  also 
wide  flats  across  some  of  our  greatest  thoroughfares,  that  will,  in 
spite  of  art,  for  ages  to  come,  make  it  necessary  to  build  lighter- 
draft  vessels.  Sail  vessels  of  over  800  tons  could  not  safely  navigate 
the  lakes  even  if  harbors  were  deep  enough." 

Such  testimony,  by  an  authority,  is  always  available  and  influ- 
ential in  procuring  delay  and  insufficient  improvements  unless  there 
is  a  strong  interest  capable  of  organization  to  confute  it.  And  as 
the  nearly  accomplished  improvement  has  resulted  in  19  vessels, 
carrying  over  8  000  net  tons  each,  passing  the  Soo  last  year,  the  testi- 
mony seems  confuted. 

The  United  States  possesses  no  noticeable  superiority  in  natural 
resources,  and  is  handicapped  by  the  necessity  of  finding  money 
•  An  evident  misprint  for  11 J4  to  12  ft. 


494  TRAFFIC   ON   WATERWAYS   AND  RAILROADS. 

to  do  in  a  part  of  a  century  that  for  which  other  countries  have 
taken  nearly  a  thousand  years.  It  has  in  the  aggregate  exhibited 
a  superiority  in  general  honesty  of  purpose  and  in  the  broad- 
mindedness  of  its  legislators,  both  national  and  locaL  It  is  largely 
through  legislation,  notably  and  peculiarly  in  its  help  to  all 
schemes  for  increasing  wealth  by  diminishing  the  cost  of  inter- 
change between  producers  and  consumers,  that  this  country  has 
attained  its  superiority.  From  the  fairly  equal  distribution  of 
subsidies  and  direct  payments  between  waterways  and  railroads, 
there  has  issued  a  system  of  mutually  beneficent  rivalry,  in  that  the 
railroads  often  own  boat  lines  and  the  boat  lines  have  owned  rail- 
roads, which  has  given  a  higher  remuneration  to  the  producer,  and 
a  lower  cost  to  the  consumer,  than  would  have  been  possible  under 
any  other  system. 

As  a  resultant  our  internal  commerce  for  1902  is  estimated 
at  $20  000  000  000.  These  figures  are  given  by  our  Bureau  of 
Statistics : 

"It  is  estimated  that  the  internal  commerce  of  the  United  States 
now  annually  amounts  in  value  to  at  least  $20  000  000  000.  This 
estimate  is  based  on  one  transaction  in  each  of  the  leading  classes  of 
commodities  produced  in  the  several  different  divisions  of  national 
industry.  On  the  basis  of  the  figures  of  the  Twelfth  Census  the 
products  of  agriculture  are  valued  at  nearly  $4  000  000  000 ;  manu- 
factures, $13  000  000  000;  minerals,  $1000  000  000.  To  these  the 
products  of  the  forests,  of  fisheries,  and  other  minor  forms  of  in- 
dustry should  be  added  at  a  valuation  of  certainly  not  less  than 
$3  000  000  000.  Including  also  the  growth  of  commerce  since  1900, 
there  can  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  aggregate  for  1902  being  fully 
$20  000  000  000." 

Our  foreign  commerce  amounts  to  nearly  12%  of  this  sum,  and 
6.8%  of  it  suffices  to  settle  our  foreign  balances,  and  pay  for  our 
foreign  transportation  with  such  luxuries  and  raw  materials  as 
we  require  from  other  countries. 

Exclusive  of  the  benefits  derived  from  land  grants,  there  seems  to 
be  no  reason  why  any  other  country  should  not  develop  its  transporta- 
tion systems  in  a  manner  analogous  to  that  pursued  by  the  United 
States  and  reap  as  substantial  a  reward. 


TRANSACTIONS 
AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  CIVIL  ENGINEERS. 


INTERNATIONAL  ENGINEERING  CONGRESS, 
1904. 


DISCUSSION  ON 

THE  CONCURRENT  DEVELOPMENT 

OF  TRAFFIC  ON  IMPROVED  WATERWAYS 

AND  ON  RAILROADS. 


By  Messrs.  Leo  Sympher,  Lionel  B.  Wells,  Th.  Hoech  and 
Edv^ard  p.  North. 


Leo  Sympher,  Esq.,  Berlin,  Germany.*  (By  letter.)— As  a  con-  Mr.  Sympher. 
sequence  of  the  canalization  of  the  Main,  the  coal  tonnage  of  the 
railroad  from  the  Ruhr  District  to  Frankfort  dropped  from  77  000 
to  40  000  tons  in  1886.  The  first  year  in  which  the  whole  canal  was 
opened  to  service  was  1887.  In  1888,  the  tonnage  rose  to  41000 
tons,  but  since  that  time  it  has  again  nearly  reached  the  old  figure. 
Inasmuch  as  a  large  part  of  the  coal  tonnage  is  now  sent  to  Frank- 
fort before  being  reloaded  to  the  railroads,  the  railroad  tonnage  for 
other  parts  of  South  Germany  has  been  affected.  No  large  falling 
off  in  the  transportation  of  coal  by  rail  between  the  Ruhr  District 
and  South  Germany,  however,  has  taken  place  since  the  opening  of 
the  canal;  on  the  contrary,  if  we  except  1888  and  1889,  there  has 
been  a  steady  increase.  Despite  the  fact  that  the  railroad  coal 
tonnage  of  Frankfort  has  fallen  off,  the  total  freight  tonnage  of  the 
railroads  has  increased  from  911000  to  1909  000  tons  in  the  16 
years  since  the  opening  of  the  canal.  A  large  proportion  of  this  in- 
crease, however,  should  be  credited  to  those  classes  of  freight  that 
call  for  reloading  from  canal-boat  to  train  or  vice  versa.     This  does 


♦  Oeheimer  Baurat. 


496  DISCUSSION  ON  WATERWAYS  AND  EAILEOADS. 

Mr.  Sjrmpher.  not  necessarily  mean  an  increase  of  income  for  the  railroads,  in 
fact,  for  some  cases,  it  indicates  a  loss.  Deducting  the  freight  ton- 
nage due  to  reloading,  we  still  have  an  increase  from  896  000  tons 
in  1886  to  1  234  000  tons  in  1902.  Taking  the  total  freight  moved 
through  Frankfort,  less  the  coal  and  reloaded  tonnage,  we  have  an 
increase  from  661000  tons  in  1886  to  974  000  tons  in  1902,  or 
47  per  cent. 

At  no  time  since  the  Main  Canal  was  opened  for  operation  has 
the  railroad  freight  tonnage  been  less  than  it  was  before.  It  is  only 
when  we  deduct  the  reloaded  tonnage  that  we  find  a  loss  of  110  000 
tons,  or  about  12%  of  the  total  freight  tonnage  in  the  second  year 
of  operation.  On  the  other  hand,  we  have  a  great  increase  in  the 
canal  tonnage.  This,  in  1886,  amounted  to  156  000  tons,  of  which 
12  000  tons  are  credited  to  the  Lower  Main,  which  had  been  opened 
in  the  autumn;  in  1902  the  tonnage  amounted  to  1273  000  tons,  of 
which  1 116  000  tons  should  be  credited  to  the  lower  part  of  the 
Main.  In  the  canalized  part  of  the  Main  we  have,  therefore,  the 
same  result  as  has  been  found  in  other  canals  and  canalized  rivers, 
i.  e.,  the  coal  traffic,  that  is  to  say,  the  principal  freight,  is  largely 
diverted  from  the  railroads  to  the  canals.  On  the  other  hand,  all 
other  classes  of  freight  show  so  great  an  increase  that  there  is  no 
diminution  of  freight  receipts  on  the  railroad. 

The  railroad  freight  of  the  City  of  Frankfort  has  increased  from 
911  000  tons  in  1886  to  1  909  000  tons  in  1902;  the  reloaded  freight 
has  increased  from  15  000  tons  in  1886  to  675  000  tons  in  1902^  and 
the  net  actual  local  freight  has  increased  from  896  000  tons  in  1886 
to  1 234  000  tons  in  1902.  Government  freight  is  not  included  in 
the  above. 

The  reloaded  freight  has  shown  a  steady  increase  from  1886  to 
1902.  The  local  freight  showed  a  small  loss  for  two  years,  viz.^  from 
896  000  tons  in  1886  to  786  000  tons  in  1887  and  895  000  tons  in 
1888;  since  that  time  there  has  been  a  constant  increase  up  to 
1 234  000  tons  in  1902.  The  water  freight  of  Frankfort  has  shown 
a  proportionately  larger  increase.  In  1886  it  amounted  to  156  000 
tons,  and  in  1902  had  risen  to  1 273  000  tons.  Deduct  from  this 
figure  the  freight  on  the  Upper  Main,  which  was  not  improved  by 
canalization,  and  there  remains  for  the  Main  Canal  12  000  tons  for 
1886,  as  against  1 116  000  tons  for  1902. 

The  Harbor  of  Frankfort  has  diverted  from  its  rival,  the  harbor 
at  the  junction  of  the  Main  and  Rhine  Rivers,  at  least  75%  of  the 
freight  reloaded  for  Hesse,  Bavaria  and  Austria.  Nearly  all  this 
loss  fell  on  Gustavsburg,  which  did  not  recover  until  1893,  or,  in 
other  words,  received  a  setback  in  its  development  for  seven  years. 

The  amount  of  coal  received  by  rail  from  the  Ruhr  District  at 
Frankfort  was  as  follows : 


DISCUSSION  ON  WATERWAYS  AND  RAILROADS.  497 

1886 77  340  tons.  Mr,  Sympher. 

1887 36  640    " 

1888 35  800     " 

1901 89  810    " 

1902 56  970    " 

The  amount  of  reloaded  freight  in  coal  was  as  follows: 

1886 37  340  tons. 

1887 71 430    " 

1888 119  380    " 

1901 233  980    " 

1902 243  110    " 

The  total  amount  of  coal  shipped  from  the  Ruhr  District  to 
South  Germany  was  as  follows : 

1886 1  027  600  tons. 

1887 1  081 170  " 

1888 974  690  " 

1889 1  006  650  " 

1890 1  311  280  " 

1901 1  805  280  " 

1902 1  578  680  " 

The  amount  of  freight  passing  through  the  Main  at  its  junction 
with  the  Rhine  (lock  at  Kostheim)  was  as  follows : 

Year.      Boat  freight.      Lumber  rafts.  Total. 

1877        494  000  tons.        192  000  tons.        686  000  tons. 

1888  724  000    "  140  000    "  864  000     " 

1889  784  000    "  155  000     "  939  000     " 

1890  928  000    "  201000    "         1129  000     " 

1891  835  000     "  162  000    "  997  000    " 

1892  1011000  "  194  000  "  1205  000  " 

1893  1045  000  "  165  000  "  1210  000  " 

1894  1249  000  "  150  000  "  1399  000  " 

1895  1071000  "  180  000  "  1251000  " 

1896  1 529  000  "  225  000  "  1  754  000  " 

1897  1340  000  "  251000  "  1591000  " 

1898  1634  000  "  270  000  "  1904  000  " 

1899  1620  000  "  317  000  "  1937  000  " 

1900  2  033  000  "  294  000  "  2  327  000  " 

1901  1860  000  "  273  000  "  2133  000  " 

1902  1924  000  "  218  000  "  2142  000  " 

1903  2  462  000  "  295  000  "  2  757  000  " 

By  the  statistics  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  it  is  shown  that, 
while  there  was  a  falling  off  in  certain  classes  of  railroad  freight. 


^98  DISCUSSION  ox   WATERWAYS  AND  RAILROADS. 

Mr.  Sympher.  coal  in  particular,  the  railroads  show  absolutely  no  loss  in  total 
freight  tonnage  at  any  time;  in  fact,  a  very  constant  increase  can 
be  proven.  At  the  same  time,  the  new  waterway  has  greatly  aided 
the  commercial  development. 

In  consequence  of  the  ease  of  obtaining  water  and  for  the  dis- 
posal of  sewage,  etc.,  the  banks  of  the  Main  River  have  been  used 
for  a  long  time  by  various  industries,  particularly  by  chemical  and 
dye  works.  The  use  of  the  river  for  freight  transportation  was  ren- 
dered impossible  by  reason  of  the  rapid  fluctuations  in  the  rate  of 
flow,  the  poor  condition  of  the  channel  and  the  difficulty  of  provid- 
ing proper  landings.  In  1886  the  canalization  of  the  Main  was 
completed,  and  the  effect  of  the  same  on  the  various  industries  was 
very  marked.^  This  is  proven  by  a  comparison  of  the  freight  tonnage 
of  the  different  classes  of  manufactures,  etc.,  for  1886  (immediately 
before  the  canal  was  put  in  service)  with  those  for  1902.  The  fol- 
lowing table  shows  this  in  detail: 

Total       Traffic,  in  Tons. 
1902.  1886. 

Class  1     Group  Vc        1  Tube  Works 13  550 

"      Via       1  Machine  Works 1584  180 

Total 15 134  180 

"      2         "      IVb      2  Lime  Works 90150  16  900 

"      5         "      XXa    3  Railroad  Traffic...  2  628  400        1073  000 
«       XXb    2  Canal  "     ....1207  800  23  896 

Total 3  836  200        1096  896 

«      6         "      Vllb        Chemical  Works...      13  000         

(1887) 

"      Vlld        Dye  Works 414 100  155  000 

"      Vile     1  Chemical  Factories.    303  810  95  962 

"      Vnid      Oil   Factory 9  200  7  215 

"      Xa        2  Paper  Factory 40  221  319 

Total 780  331  258  496 

«      7         "      Xlla    2  Celluloid  Factories.      20  863  1000 

"      Xllle  5  Breweries    58  586  43  204 

Total    79  449  44  204 

The  chemical  industries.  Class  6,  show  a  great  increase,  due  no 
doubt  to  the  reduced  freight,  both  on  raw  materials  (coal  in  par- 
ticular), and  on  a  large  part  of  the  product.     In  consequence  thereof 


DISCUSSION  ON  WATERWAYS  AND  RAILROADS.  499 

many  new  factories  have  been  built  along  the  Main.     Local  pro-  Mr.  Sympher. 
ductions  have  also  been  favored  by  the  cheaper  transportation. 

For  the  solution  of  the  problem  as  to  how  much  traffic  existing 
railroads  lose  by  reason  of  the  new  canals,  many  cases  can  be  cited 
where  both  have  shown  a  favorable  development.  It  is,  however, 
seldom  possible  to  prove  this  as  clearly  and  undoubtedly  as  is  done 
by  the  statistics  concerning  the  Oder-Spree  Canals.  These  are 
singularly  free  from  all  doubtful  or  hypothetical  figures. 

As  is  well  known  there  was  formerly  a  water  route  between 
Silesia  and  Berlin,  Brandenburg  and  Hamburg,  by  way  of  the  Oder, 
Frederick  William  Canal  and  the  Spree.  The  water  freight  was 
unimportant,  amounting  to  about  from  200  000  to  300  000  tons  in 
the  early  Eighties;  on  the  other  hand,  the  railroad  freight,  from 
Oppeln  to  Berlin,  Brandenburg  and  Elbe  Harbor  amounted  to 
1  200  000  tons  in  1883  and  1  800  000  in  1890. 

After  the  completion  of  the  Oder-Spree  Canal  in  1891,  the  canali- 
zation of  the  Upper  Oder  in  the  autumn  of  1895  and  the  ship  canal 
at  Breslau  in  1897,  a  great  change  took  place  in  the  shipping  be- 
tween Upper  Silesia  and  Berlin,  etc.  Before  these  improvements 
were  made  transportation  was  limited  to  boats  of  125  tons  capacity, 
but  after  they  were  completed  the  canal  was  deep  enough  for  boats 
up  to  400  tons  capacity.  By  this  means  a  modern  equipment  for 
water  transportation  was  possible — let  us  see  how  it  affected  the 
railroads. 

It  must  be  explained  here  that  the  statistical  data  available  do 
not  permit  of  comparing  strictly  identically  travelled  districts  for 
railroad  and  water  routes.  It  will  be  sufficiently  accurate  to  as- 
sume that  the  greater  part  of  the  freight  passing  Furstenburg  on 
the  Oder  is  for  Berlin,  the  Province  of  Brandenburg  or  Hamburg, 
or  has  come  from  there,  and  that  the  greater  part  has  either  come 
from  or  is  destined  for  the  Oppeln  District  in  Upper  Silesia.  In 
the  absence  of  other  data,  it  will  be  proper  to  compare  the  Oder- 
Spree  Canal  freight  with  the  railroad  freight  between  Upper  Silesia 
and  Berlin,  Brandenburg  and  Hamburg.  In  so  doing  we  neglect 
the  comparatively  unimportant  tonnage  that  arrives  by  water  in 
the  Province  of  Brandenburg  by  routes  other  than  the  Frederick 
William  and  Oder-Spree  Canals.  Space  will  not  permit  of  giving 
all  the  statistics  available,  and,  in  Tables  8,  9  and  10,  no  figures  are 
given  between  1883  (the  first  year  in  which  official  records  were 
kept)  and  1890  (the  year  before  the  Oder-Spree  Canal  was  opened). 

Tables  8,  9  and  10  show  that  the  freight  on  the  Oder-Spree  Canal 
was  very  light  at  the  start,  but  it  has  increased  from  year  to  year, 
so  that  in  the  first  eleven  years  it  has  been  more  than  quadrupled. 
In  the  opening  year,  1891,  the  freight  amounted  to  446  000  tons  and 
in  1902  to  1819  000  tons. 


500 


DISCUSSION   ON   ^VATER^VAYS  AND  JIAILROADS. 


Mr.Sympher.    TABLE    8. — FREIGHTS   ON    THE    FREDERICK    WiLLIAM    AND   THE    OdER- 

Spree  Canals. 


Frederick  William 

Canal, 
Passing  Brieskow. 

Oder-Spree  Canal, 
Passing  Fcrstenburq. 

Stm  Total. 

Yeak. 

i 
s 

1 

1 

3 

1 
1 

h 

•=11 

1883 

285  000 
243  000 
426  000 
117000 
130  000 
121000 
106  000 

102  000 

108  000 

109  000 
119  000 

103  000 
93  000 
76  000 

87  000 

105  000 

247  000  1 

19  000 

28  000 

15  000 

11000 

7000 

15  000 

12  000 

19  000 

14  000 

11000 

9000 

285  000 

243  000 

871000 

973  000 

1018  000 

1145  000 

1047  000 

1256  000 

1477  000 

1577  000 

1798  000 

1713  000 

1  726  (.00 

1896  000 

37  ax) 

1890 

105  OCO 

1891 

446  000 

856  000 

888  000 

1024  000 

941000 

1154  000 

1369  000 

1468  000 

1679  000 

1610  000 

1683  000 

1819  000 

216  000 
514  000 
533  000 
614  000 
565  000 
718  000 
820  000 
826  000 
966  000 
861000 
985  000 
1088  000 

468  000 

1892 

533  000 

1898 

561000 

1894 

629  000 

1896 

576  000 

1896 

725  000 

1897 

835  000 

1898 

838  000 

1899 

984  000 

1900 

875  OCO 

1901 

946  000 

1902 

1097  000 

TABLE  9. — ^Railroad  Freights  between  Oppeln,  Upper  Silesia 

and: 


Berlin. 

Provincb  of 
Brandenburg. 

Hakbuko. 

Sum  Totals. 

go 

1 

icb  bard 
=  tons. 

1 

h 

I 

1. 
•Sll 

OS 

1 

Of  Which 

Year. 

!•' 

1 

Of  wb 
coal 

1 

1 

5§ 

H 

Hard 
ton 

of 
£ 

1883 

766  000 

699  000 

406  000 

873  000 

14  000 

1000 

1186  000 

1078  000 

118  OOO 

1890 

1092  000 

974  000 

785  000 

664  000 

22  000 

9000 

1849  000 

1647  000 

202  000 

1891 

1037  000 

916  000 

727000 

638000 

27  000 

9000 

1791000 

1563  000 

288  000 

1892 

961000 

846  000 

666  000 

579  000 

15  000 

1641000 

1425  000 

816  000 

1883 

975  000 

866  000 

706  000 

610  000 

16  060 

1000 

1697  000 

1467  000 

280  000 

1894 

776  000 

676  000 

624  000 

5.36  000 

15  000 

1415  000 

1212  000 

203  000 

1896 

TMOOO 

700  000 

606  000 

522  000 

16  000 

1415  000 

1222  000 

19.S000 

1896 

746  000 

647  000 

621000 

531000 

16  000 

1382  000 

1178  0Q0 

804  000 

1897 

771000 

671000 

681000 

592  000 

18  000 

1470  OCO 

1263  000 

207  OCO 

1898 

865  000 

735  000 

782  000 

670  000 

16  000 

1653  000 

1406  000 

248  000 

1899 

874  000 

7^000 

860  000 

786  000 

88  000 

1746  000 

1482  000 

864  000 

1900 

1066  000 

961000 

936  000 

818  000 

41000 

2032  000 

1769  000 

868  000 

1901 

1046000 

948  000 

989  000 

880  000 

36  000 

2  071000 

1828  000 

843  UOO 

1908 

866  000 

766000 

910  000 

786000 

87  GOO 

1818000 

1668  000 

800000 

DISCUSSION^  ON  WATERWAYS  AND  RAILROADS. 


501 


TABLE  10. — Kailroad  akd  Canal  Freight  between  Oppeln^  in  Mr.  Sympher. 
Upper  Silesia,  and  Berlin,  the  Province  of  Brandenburg 
and  Hanover. 


Year. 


1890.. 

i«n.. 

18W.. 
1893.. 
1894.. 
1995.. 
1896.. 
1897.. 
1898.. 
1899.. 
1900.. 
1801 . . 
1908.. 


StmifAHT. 


Rail- 
road. 
Tons. 


Canal. 
Tons. 


1  186  000 
1  849  000! 
1  T91  OOOi 
1  641  000 
1  697  000  1 
1  415  000,1 
1  415  000  1 
1  88S  000  1 
1  470  000  1 
1  653  0001 

1  746  000  1 
8  032  000  1 

2  071  000  1 
il  812  OOOil 


Total. 
Tons. 


235  0001 
243  0002 
871  0002 
978  000i2 
018  0002 
145  000  2 


Classitication. 


Hard  Coal. 


Rail- 
road. 
Tons. 


047  000 
256  000 
477  000 
577  000 
798  000 
713  000 
728  000 
895  000 


421  0001 
092  0001 
662  000  1 
614  000  1 
715  OOU'l 
560  0001 
462  000  1 
638  OOO'l 
947  OOOil 
280  OOOil 


Canal. 
Tons. 


544  000 
745  000 
797  000 
707  000 


073  000 
647  000 
563  000 
425  000 
467  000 
212  000 
222  OOO! 
178  000 
263  000 
405  OOOi 
482  000 
769  000 
828  000 
552  0001 
I 


37  000 
105  000 
463  000 
533  000 
561-000 
629  000 
576  000 
725  000 
835  000 
838  000 
984  000 
875  000 
946  000 
097  000 


Total. 
Tons. 


110  000 

752  000 
026  000 
958  000 
028  000 
841  000 
798  000 
903  000 
098  000 
243  000 
466  000 
644  000 
774  000 
649  000 


Othkb  Freight. 


Rail- 
road. 
Tons. 


118  000 

202  000 
228  000 
216  000 
230  000 
208  000 
193  000 
204  000 
207  000 
248  000 
264  000 
263  000 
243  000 
260  000 


Canal. 
Tons. 


198  000 

138  000 
408  000 
440  000 
457  000 
516  000 
471  000 
581  000 
642  000 
739  000 
814  000 
838  000 
780  OOOil 
798  00011 


Total. 
Tons. 


811  000 
340  000 
636  000 
656  000 
687  000 
719  000 
664  000 
785  000 
849  000 
987  000 
078  000 
101  000 
023  000 
058  000 


The  possibilities  of  further  increase  are  not  at  an  end,  but  the 
history  of  this  canal  shows  that  a  well-equipped  modem  canal, 
properly  located,  is  able  to  draw  to  itself  large  quantities  of  freight 
in  a  place  where  a  small  unimportant  canal  had  had  a  hard  struggle 
to  maintain  itself  and  had  given  opponents  of  canalization  an  oppor- 
tunity to  question  its  right  to  existence  and  to  state  that,  in  this 
day  of  railroads,  canals  are  superfluous.  Success  was  gained  in  spite 
of  the  fact  that  we  are  not  dealing  with  a  river,  the  maintenance  of 
which  calls  for  no  expense,  but  with  a  canal  that  calls  for  various 
expenditures.  The  result  has  been  that  at  the  present  writing  this 
canal  is  not  only  paying  for  its  maintenance,  but  is  also  returning 
2%  on  the  capital  invested  in  it. 

It  is  .a  matter  of  special  interest  to  determine  in  what  measure 
the  railroad  traffic  has  been  decreased.  In  1890,  the  year  before 
the  Oder- Spree  Canal  was  opened,  this  traffic  reached  a  tonnage  of 
1  849  000  tons,  including  1  647  000  tons  of  coal,  which  was,  up  to 
1900,  the  greatest  tonnage  observed  for  the  traffic  between  Oppeln 
and  Berlin,  Brandenburg,  and  the  harbors  on  the  Elbe.  A  very 
gradual  decrease  took  place  up  to  1896,  when  the  figures  were 
1  382  000  tons,  of  which  the  coal  tonnage  was  1 178  000.  In  1901, 
the  figures  show  that  the  total  tonnage  had  increased  to  2  071  000, 
of  which  1 828  000  tons  were  coal.  For  1902,  the  figures  were 
1  812  000  and  1  552  000  tons,  respectively,  showing  a  slight  decrease. 
The  loss  amounted  to  467  000  tons  in  1896  and  was  about  25%  of 
the  traffic  as  it  existed  in  1890. 


503  DISCUSSION  ON  WATERWAYS  AND  EAILROADS. 

Mr.  Sympher.  Considering  Berlin  alone,  where  the  Rhine-Elbe  Canal  would 
have  allowed  almost  all  the  freight  to  be  diverted  to  the  water 
route,  we  have  a  reduction  from  1  092  000  tons,  of  which  the  coal 
tonnage  was  from  974  000  to  745  000  and  647  000  tons,  respectively, 
in  1896 ;  and  then  a  gradual  increase  up  to  1901,  which  shows  a  ton- 
nage of  1  046  000  and  958  000,  respectively.  For  1902,  in  this  case, 
as  in  the  larger  one,  a  decrease  again  takes  place,  the  total  freight 
tonnage  being  865  000,  of  which  766  000  tons  were  coal. 

The  maximum  decrease  amounted  to  about  32%,  and  it  took 
about  five  years  for  the  railroads  to  get  back  to  their  former 
tonnage.  As  the  figures  for  Berlin  show  such  a  close  analogy  to 
those  for  the  larger  district,  for  further  comparison,  it  will  be  ample 
to  consider  only  the  traffic  between  Upper  Silesia  and  Berlin.  If  we 
distinguish  between  coal  and  other  freight,  coal  being  the  heaviest 
of  the  large  consignments,  we  can  readily  prove  that  the  railroad 
loss  is  due  mainly  to  the  diversion  of  the  coal  hauling.  For  all 
other  freight,  the  loss  between  1890  and  1895  amounted  to  only 
9  000  tons,  having  dropped  from  202  000  to  193  000  tons  in  that 
period.  In  1902  this  business  had  increased  to  260  000  tons.  For 
Berlin,  the  figures  are  as  follows: 

1890 118  000  tons. 

1895 94  000    " 

1902 99  000    " 

The  loss  amounts  to  24  000  tons.  Taking  the  totals  of  railroad 
and  canal  tonnage,  we  find  that  the  total  traffic  between  Oppeln  and 
Berlin,  Brandenburg  and  Hanover  increased  from  1  421  000  tons  in 
1883  to  2  092  000  in  1890,  and  in  1902  had  reached  3  707  000  tons. 
In  other  words,  the  yearly  increase  before  the  canal  was  finished 
was  96  000  tons,  and  after  its  completion,  .135  000  tons. 

That  this  increase  is  to  be  credited  to  the  canal  can  be  seen  from 
the  following  tabulation  of  railroad  traffic  between  Berlin  and 
Brandenburg  on  the  one  side,  and  all  other  districts,  except  Oppeln, 
on  the  other:* 

Province  of 


Year. 

Berlin. 
Tons. 

Brandenburg. 
Tons. 

Total. 
Tons. 

1883 

2  558  000 

2  514  000 

5  072  000 

1890 

4  318  000 

4  277  000 

8  595  000 

1896 

5  017  000 

5  682  000 

10  699  000 

1899 

5  931  000 

7  130  000 

13  061  000 

1900 

6  690  000 

8  123  000 

14183  000 

1-901 

6  697  000 

8  358  000 

15  055  000 

1902 

7  105  000 

8  892  000 

15  997  000 

*  HambuTK  is  not  included  here,  as  its  total  traffic  is  not  at  all  affected  by  tlie  small 
amount  of  traffic  between  it  and  Upper  Silesia. 


DISCUSSIOX  ON  WATERWAYS  AND  RAILROADS.  503 

This  shows  an  average  yearly  increase,  from  1890  to  1902,  of  Mr.  Sympher, 
about  600  000  tons,  while  the  average  increase  of  the  period  from 
1883  to  1890  was  about  500  000  tons. 

The  above  figures  show  that  the  traffic  development  on  the  Oder- 
Spree  Canal  is  analogous  to  what  may  be  expected  for  the  canal 
between  the  Rhine  and  Hanover.  The  following  facts  have  been 
proven  as  regards  the  development  of  canal  traffic. 

1. — The  canal  traffic  increased  very  slowly  at  first,  but  finally 
reached  a  respectable  figure. 

2. — The  railroad  traffic  showed  a  gradual  loss  at  first,  but  soon 
recovered,  and  the  maximum  loss  was  never  greater  than  one-third 
of  the  traffic  of  the  canal  in  its  opening  year. 

3. — The  freight  lost  to  the  railroad  was  mostly  rough  and  bulky 
freight,  mainly  coal. 

4. — The  canal  has  had  a  tendency  to  increase  the  total  amount  of 
freight  from  the  surrounding  country,  and  thereby  materially  in- 
creased the  prosperity  of  the  same. 

■5. — The  railroad  loss  is  due  not  so  much  to  any  diversion  of 
existing  traffic  as  to  a  diversion  of  the  natural  increase  due  to  the 
building  of  the  canal.  In  case  the  canal  had  not  been  built,  rail- 
roads would  have  had  to  be.  This  was  not  so  much  the  case  in  the 
districts  we  have  been  dealing  with  as  in  others,  and  is  the  main 
reason  why  work  on  the  canal  from  the  Rhine  to  Hanover  should 
be  started  as  soon  as  possible. 

Should  these  conclusions  be  acknowledged  as  correct,  no  reason 
exists  for  doubting  that  the  canal  from  the  Rhine  to  Hanover  will 
have  a  traffic  that  will  justify  its  existence  on  one  hand  and  will 
not  materially  affect  the  income  of  the  existing  railroads. 

Lionel  B.  Wells,  M.  Inst.  C.  E.,  Manchester,  England.   (By  Mr.  Wells, 
letter.) — Mr.  North's  reference  to  Mulhall's  estimate  of  the  cost  of 
transportation  in  different  countries  is  well  worthy  of  attention  by 
men  of  affairs  and  philanthropists. 

When  law  and  order  have  been  assured  to  a  community,  the  im- 
portance of  good,  rapid  and  cheap  means  of  communication  for 
passengers  and  freight  becomes  paramount,  and  each  year  as  the 
means  of  locomotion  generally  is  improved,  enabling  products  from 
a  greater  distance  to  be  used  with  advantage  and  economy,  the 
cheapening  of  the  cost  of  carriage  within  its  boundaries  becomes  of 
greater  consequence  to  each  civilised  nation  and  also  to  humanity 
at  large. 

When  supplies  were  drawn  from  a  short  distance  the  cost  per 
ton  per  mile  was  relatively  of  less  account;  at  the  present  time  it 
looms  large,  making  for  prosperity  and  comfort  if  it  is  fostered,  and 
for  poverty  and  decay  if  it  is  neglected. 

The  United  Kingdom  is  in  the  unenviable  position  of  being  at 


504  DISCUSSION  ON  WATERWAYS  AND  RAILROADS. 

Mr.  Wells,  the  top  of  Mulhall's  list,  with  an  average  cost  for  transportation  of 
2.80  cents  per  ton  per  mile. 

How  this  can  be  lowered  is  a  problem  which  ought  to  receive  the 
attention  of  all  who  are  concerned  for  the  welfare  of  England.  Two 
generations  ago  the  condition  was  reversed.  With  the  sea  at  a  mod- 
erate distance  even  from  the  Midlands,  a  network  of  canals,  not 
then  out  of  date,  and  a  railway  system  in  advance  of  other  nations, 
our  products  were  carried  at  lower  rates  than  those  of  other  nations. 

Mulhall  puts  the  ordinary  cost  of  land  carriage  for  goods  in 
Europe  in  1850  as  16  cents  per  ton  per  mile.  This  compares  with 
rates  varying  from  2.50  cents  in  Italy  to  1.56  cents  in  Holland  ob- 
taining at  the  present  time,  the  English  rate  being,  as  already  stated, 
2.80  cents. 

This,  on  the  face  of  it,  is  an  intolerable  position,  and  ought  to  be 
faced.  How  can  the  rate  be  appreciably  lowered  without  making 
greater  use  of  waterways?  and  to  be  of  real  utility,  the  waterways 
must  be  improved  and  brought  up  to  date. 

The  net  receipts  of  railways  compared  to  the  gross  receipts  are 
continually  diminishing  in  spite  of  the  high  rates  paid  for  carriage. 
In  discussing  this  question,  side  issues  are  continually  raised.  It  .is 
said  to  be  due  to  excessive  local  rates  and  other  causes,  all  acting 
to  the  disadvantage  of  the  railway  shareholder  who,  although,  in 
some  instances,  he  is  amply  remunerated  for  his  enterprise,  on  the 
average  is  certainly  not  too  well  rewarded. 

Some  14  or  15  years  ago,  long  and  costly  enquiries  were  held 
both  by  officials  of  the  Board  of  Trade  and  Committees  of  Parlia- 
ment to  investigate  the  (piestion  of  the  charges  made  by  railway 
and  canal  companies  for  transportation.  Some  relief  was  obtained 
by  the  trader,  but,  as  shewn  by  Mulhall's  figures,  this  is  not  sufficient 
to  meet  the  case. 

If  we  look  to  Europe  for  guidance  we  see  at  once  that  countries 
that  have  the  best  system  of  waterways  pay  the  lowest  rate  for  trans- 
portation, viz.,  Holland,  1.56  cents,  and  Belgium,  1.60  cents  per  ton 
per  mile.  Belgium  maj  be  taken  as  somewhat  similar  to  the  manu- 
facturing districts,  while  Holland  compares  with  the  districts  in  the 
eastern  part  of  England,  where  the  land  is  level  and  agriculture  is 
almost  the  only  pursuit. 

The  canal  system  of  these  two  countries  has  long  been  well  de- 
veloped, and,  in  spite  of  the  introduction  of  railways,  water  com- 
munication has  not  been  neglected.  New  canals  are  being  made 
and  the  old  ones  enlarged. 

There  are  signs  of  a  revival  of  interest  in  canals  in  England. 
The  matter  is  before  the  Chambers  of  Commerce  and  when  the 
Associated  Chambers  of  the  United  Kingdom  meet  in  Manchester 
in  the  autumn  of  1904,  resolutions  will  be  brought  forward  hy  the 


DISCUSSION  ON  WATERWAYS  AND  RAILROADS. 


505 


Manchester,  Liverpool,   and   Worcester  Chambers  pointing  to   the  Mr.  Wells, 
necessity  for  the  Government  taking  over  the  canals  and  working 
them  in  the  public  interest;  or,  as  an  alternative,  that  the  canals 
should  be  placed  under  a  National  public  trust  with  a  Government 
guarantee,  supervision  and  control.     The  Liverpool  resolution  is: 

"That  in  view  of  the  urgent  necessity  of  cheapening  the  cost  of 
the  internal  transport  of  goods  and  of  the  immense  benefit  that  is 
bound  to  follow  from  the  modernisation  and  extension  of  our  inland 
navigations,  this  Association,  being  of  opinion  that  the  best  results 
can  be  obtained  only  through  unity  of  management,  strongly  urges 
that  all  the  inland  navigations  of  the  United  Kingdom  should  be 
acquired  by  the  State  or  by  a  suitably  constituted  National  trust." 

The  interest  in  this  question  has  extended  to  the  House  of  Com- 
mons; several  influential  men  of  affairs  and  of  good  commercial 
reputation  are  engaged  in  furthering  measures  for  the  consideration 
of  the  subject  with  a  view  to  action  being  taken. 

The  Manchester  Ship  Canal  was  opened  for  traffic  on  January 
1st,  1894;  the  traffic  on  it  to  the  end  of  1903  has  been  as  follows: 


1894. 

1895. 

1896. 

1897. 

1898. 

1899. 

1900. 

1901. 

1902. 

1908. 

Tons. 

Tons. 

Tons. 

Tons. 

Tons. 

Tons. 

Tons. 

Tons. 

Tons. 

Tons. 

925  659 

1858  875 

1826  237 

2  065  815 

2  595  585 

2  778  108 

8  060  516 

2  942  898 

8  418  059 

3  846  895 

The  distance  from  Manchester  to  Liverpool  is  35  miles,  and  there 
are  four  lines  of  railway  between  the  cities.  The  London  and  North 
Western  Railway  owns  two  of  these,  yet  it  has  never  been  suggested 
at  any  meeting  of  railway  shareholders  that  the  railway  companies 
have  suffered  in  their  traffic  owing  to  the  competition  of  this  canal. 

Of  the  loss  due  to  the  competition  of  electric  trams,  we  hear 
continually,  and  the  sums  estimated  to  be  thus  abstracted  from  the 
railway  receipts  are  specifically  mentioned.  If  it  were  possible  to 
ground  a  complaint  against  the  ship  canal  it  would  have  been  voiced 
by  the  railway  interest. 

The  trade  of  Manchester  arid  the  surrounding  district  has  re- 
ceived an  enormous  impetus  since  the  canal  was  opened  and  it  con- 
tinues to  expand.  A  new  industrial  quarter  has  sprung  up  in  Traf- 
ford  Park,  on  the  canal  side,  where  the  Westinghouse  Company  and 
a  score  of  other  manufactories  are  installed,  employing  thousands 
of  men. 

The  depth  of  water  in  the  canal  is  about  to  be  increased  from 
26  to  28  ft.  The  lock  sills  admit  of  this.  A  basin,  15  acres  in  extent 
with  the  most  modern  appliances  for  dealing  with  the  cargoes  of 


506 


DISCUSSION  ON  WATERWAYS  AND  RAILROADS, 


Mr.  Wells,  large  ships  trading  here,  is  being  added  to  the  10  i  acres  originally 
provided. 

During  these  years,  Liverpool  has  been  busily  occupied  in  ex- 
tending its  docks,  with  far  greater  rapidity  than  in  former  decades, 
and  of  necessity,  for  her  customs  tonnage  in  and  out,  which  in  1893 
amounted  to  16  831Y00  tons,  was  last  year  (1903)  23  901000  tons. 
Whilst  Manchester  has  attracted  3  847  000  tons  dead  weight,  Liver- 
pool has  added  over  7  000  000  tons  to  her  customs  tonnage. 

Liverpool  opposed  the  canal  to  the  uttermost.  At  the  time,  our 
great  financier,  Mr.  W.  E.  Gladstone,  a  native  of  Liverpool,  told 
the  citizens  that  they  would  not  suffer  damage  from  the  ship  canal 
to  Manchester,  but,  on  the  contrary,  that  they  would  derive  benefit, 
because  a  new  inducement  to  cause  trade  to  flow  into  Lancashire 
would  be  brought  into  existence,  and,  seeing  that  Liverpool  could 
never  lose  its  position  of  advantage  at  the  portal  of  the  district,  it 
must  gain  from  the  additional  impetus  given  to  the  prosperity  of  the 
country  at  its  back.     Time  has  shewn  his  prescience. 


TABLE  11. 


Canal  Tbafpic, 
IN  AND  orr. 

Railway  Traffic,  Petite 
Vitesse  in  and  out. 

Tons. 

Tons. 

1872 

256  804 

802  264 

345  190 

585  834 

694  082 

813  321 

849  598 

948  650 

960  859 

866  939 

996  635 

1  Wl  697 

1  101  281 

1  110  824 

990  694 

1  003  683 

1  079  606 

1  22(1  135 

1  077  561 

t  017  093 

1  106  727 

505  400 

1882  

991  500 

1883.       

1  021  000 

1884     

1  040  200 

1885  

1  0&9  700 

1886      

1  071  900 

1887     

1  ore  800 

1888 

1  207  100 

1889'      

1  295  400 

1890    

1  465  400 

1891 

1  596  500 

1893 

1  434  900 

1893     

1  455  300 

1894    

1  427  100 

1895 

1  273  100 

1896     

1  397  300 

1897 

1  429  800 

1898 

1  719  600 

1899     

1  674  900 

1900 

1  771  775 

1901 

1  748  950 

The  advent  of  the  ship  canal  was  contemporaneous  with  the  re- 
moval of  the  Mersey  Bar,  on  which  dredging  commenced  in  1890. 
The  bar  has  been  removed  and  the  channel  of  approach  deepened  to 
25  ft.  at  dead  low  water.  It  is  hard  to  suppose  that  the  great  traffic 
now  passing  in  and  out  of  Liverpool  could  have  found  accommoda- 
tion under  the  old  restricted  conditions,  as  to  time  and  depth  of 
water. 


DISCUSSION  ON  WATERWAYS  AND  RAILROADS.  507 

That  a  large  canal  traffic  is  not  detrimental  to  railway  traffic  is  Mr.  Weiie. 
evident  by  studying  the  lines  of  trade  followed  in  France  from  Paris 
to  Havre  and  from  Paris  to  the  northwest  and  Belgium.     It  is  also 
palpable  to  all  who  have  watched  the  steamers  and  barges  and  the 
railway  trains  on  both  banks  which  traverse  the  valley  of  the  Rhine. 

Facilities  of  communication,  when  duly  provided,  give  an  im- 
petus to  trade  which  acts  and  reacts  to  the  benefit  of  the  district. 
This  is  exemplified  in  Table  11,  which  shews  the  weight  of  goods 
carried  to  and  from  Dunkirk  by  railway  and  canal  in  1872  and  1882 
to  1901  inclusive. 

As  money  makes  money,  facilities  beget  trade,  and  the  best 
available  means  of  communication  is  a  great  promoter  of  trade  and 
well-being. 

Th.  Hoech,*  Esq.,  Kolberg,  Germany.  (By  letter.)— In  reading  Mr.  Hoech. 
the  paper,  it  occurred  to  the  writer  that  the  rates  per  ton-mile,  re- 
duced to  cents,  as  given  on  pages  477  and  487,  namely, 

England  Germany      New  England    United  States 

2.80  1.64  1.16  0.80 

recognized  the  rule  that  the  unit  of  cost  decreases  as  the  length  of 
the  mileage  increases.  It  follows  that  the  larger  areas  have  cheaper 
unit  rates,  partially  making  good  the  large  average  haulage  to  the 
points  of  destination.  Still,  there  is  another  rule  which  applies, 
namely,  that  the  density  of  population  causes  the  number  of  short 
hauls  to  increase,  and,  similarly,  the  average  freight  rate,  according 
to  the  first  rule. 

As  to  the  cost  of  construction,  the  New  England  States  were 
obliged  to  invest  more  money  in  railroad  stations,  in  rights  of  way, 
etc.,  than  the  average  State  in  the  United  States.  Even  the  cost 
of  the  railway  lines  in  New  England  is  much  greater  than  in  the 
Mississippi  Valley,  and  even  in  the  Far  "West,  with  the  long  canons 
which  Nature  has  prepared  for  railroad  routes. 

Whether  less  capital  invested  in  railways  is  lost  in  New  England 
than  the  average  in  the  TJnited  States,  the  writer  does  not  know. 
Statistics  cannot  be  considered  perfect  unless  the  rate  of  interest  of 
the  invested  capital  is  given,  and  the  loss  of  investments  by  fore- 
closures is  counted  in.  One  might  perhaps  find  this  rule  to  hold 
good,  namely,  that  the  more  foreclosures  the  cheaper  the  rates.  The 
writer  would  like  to  see  it  demonstrated  that  the  rules  of  Nature 
prevail  over  human  manipiilations. 

Edward  P.  North,  M.  Am.  Soc.  C.  E.,  New  York  City.   (By  Mr.  North, 
letter.) — The  valuable  discussion  contributed  by  Mr.  Sympher  shows 
how  little,  in  Grermany  as  in  the  United  States,  railroads  have  to 

•  Baurat. 


608  DISCUSSION  ON  WATERWAYS  AND  RAILBOADS. 

Mr.  North,  apprehend  from  the  competition  of  improved  waterways.  This  prac- 
tically endorses  the  theory  of  the  Grerman  engineers  under  whose 
advice  to  their  Government  about  $150  000  000  have  been  expended 
during  the  past  20  years  in  improving  Grerman  waterways,  although 
the  Government  owns  about  90%  of  the  railroads  of  the  country. 
O.  Eltzbacher*  sums  up  the  results  of  this  concurrent  improvement 
of  German  railroads  and  waterways  as  follows: 


Tons  Carried  per  Kilometer. 

1875.                i               1895. 

On  waterways 

290000               !              750000 

On  railroads 

410000               !              590000 

This  great  increase  in  tonnage  per  kilometer  on  the  waterways 
must  have  been  influential  in  reducing  "the  economically  unrepro- 
ductive  cost  of  transport"  to  the  i)eople  of  Germany.  During  sub- 
stantially the  same  period,  from  1882  to  1902,  the  boats  engaged  in 
internal  navigation  carrying  150  tons,  or  less,  have  decreased  by 
nearly  20%,  while  those  carrying  300  tons,  or  more,  have  increased 
by  565  iper  cent. 

Since  the  Rhine  has  been  deepened,  many  light-draft  steamers 
find  it  profitable  to  escape  the  cost  of  transferring  cargo  at  the 
mouths  of  the  Rhine  by  running  direct  from  British  and  North 
European  ports  to  Cologne,  while  the  transference  of  freight  from 
deep-sea  steamers  at  the  Dutch  ports  is  adding  to  the  wealth  of 
Holland. 

Note  should  be  taken,  in  considering  the  usefulness  of  400-ton 
boats  on  the  German  canals,  that  the  freight  rates  in  Germany  are 
about  twice  as  high  as  in  the  United  States. 

The  discussion  by  Mr.  Hoech  is  very  valuable  in  the  sug- 
gestions made.  But  attention  should  be  called  to  an  apparent 
lack  of  discrimination  between  capital  invested  and  the  face 
value  of  certificates  of  indebtedness  issued.  The  more  doubt- 
ful the  success  of  a  projected  railroad,  the  greater  the  excess  of 
bonds  over  stock,  which  the  law  required  to  be  full  paid.  This  law 
did  not  apply  to  bonds  and  there  were  instances  in  the  20  years 
succeeding  1865  when  for  every  dollar  of  stock  two  dollars  in  bonds 
of  different  denominations  were  issued.  In  such  cases  it  is  im- 
probable, if,  after  bankers'  commissions  were  paid,  more  than 
25%  of  the  face  value  of  the  so-caUed  securities  ever  reached  the 
office  of  the  railroad  company.    But  these  practices  were  almost 

*  Contemporary  Revtetc,  December,  1904. 


DISCUSSION   OX   WATERWAYS  AND  RAILROADS.  509 

unknown  in  either  Groups  I  or  II  of  Table  1,  which  present  both  Mr.  North, 
the  highest  and  the  lowest  average  freight  rates.  Their  exhibition 
was  confined  almost  entirely  to  groups  west  of  the  Mississippi. 
Both  seller  and  buyer  knew  this  was  blind  and  desperate  gambling, 
and  foreclosures  were  almost  inevitable,  but  it  is  doubtful  if,  in  the 
majority  of  such  cases,  values  were  wiped  out,  or  the  capital  in- 
vested was  sensibly  impaired  by  the  foreclosure.  No  statistician 
can  perfect  the  rate  of  interest  paid  on  the  money  actually  invested 
in  constructing  our  railroads.  It  would  be  extremely  difficult  for 
any  road  of  great  extent. 

Nearly  all  railroads  make  rates  that  are,  in  some  measure,  inverse 
to  the  length  of  haul,  and  the  traffic  rules  laid  down  by  Mr.  Hoech, 
if  not  intuitively  suggested,  will  be  immediately  accepted  as  correct 
by  all  thinkers  on  this  subject,  but  the  rules  are  general  and  not 
rigorous  in  their  application.     Taking  the  second  one: 

"The  density  of  population  causes  the  number  of  short  hauls  to 
increase,  and  similarly  the  average  freight  rate." 

The  first  year  that  "Poor's  Manual"  was  able  to  collect  statistics 
for  all  railroads  in  the  United  States  was  1882;  then  our  popiila- 
tion  was  16.89  iter  sq.  mile;  we  shipped  6.87  tons  per  capita,  which 
was  carried  109.02  miles  at  a  cost  of  1.236  cents  per  ton-mile.  In 
1900,  we  had  25.2  people  per  sq.  mile,  sent  14.08  tons  per  capita  131.8 
miles  to  its  destination  at  an  average  cost  of  0.746  cent  per  ton-mile. 
There  are  also  other  instances  limiting  this  rule,  e.  g.,  Belgium  has 
590,  Holland,  400,  and  Germany,  270  inhabitants  per  sq.  mile;  yet, 
as  given  by  Mulhall,  the  freight  rates  are,  Germany,  1.64;  Belgiuiii, 
1.60,  and  Holland,  1.56  cents  per  ton-mile,  with  probably  shorter 
hauls  in  Holland  and  Belgium  than  in  Germany.  In  view  of  the 
exceptions  noted,  it  may  be  safely  said  that  the  rule  defines  a  ten- 
dency and  should  not  be  accepted  for  any  case  without  investigation. 

The  first  rule:  that  the  unit  of  cost  decreases  as  the  length  of 
mileage  increases,  has  few,  if  any,  exceptions,  but  it  does  not  seem 
applicable,  as  cited  in  a  comparison  between  the  rates  in  New 
England,  1.16  and  0.8  for  the  United  States.  Table  4,  page  487,  has 
no  mention  of  the  average  ton-mile  rate  in  the  United  States.  It 
was  not  submitted  as  conclusive,  but  to  show  the  effect  of  respectable 
and  highly  appreciated  railroad  commissions  in  upholding  freight 
rates  and  driving  heavy  manufacturing  out  of  the  territory  in  which 
railroad  building  is  controlled  by  them.  Table  12,  in  which  the 
groups  are  arranged  as  in  Table  4,  except  that  the  miles  of  rail- 
road are  miles  operated,  as  returned  in  "Poor's  Manual,"  shows  that 
Group  I,  though,  with  one  exception,  having  the  largest  population 
per  square  mile,  had  the  highest  freight  rate  of  all  the  groups.  It 
also  had  the  shortest  haul  of  any  group.  But  Group  II,  which  is 
the  most  densely  populated  of  all  the  groups  and  has  the  shortest 


510  DISCUSSION  ON  WATERWAYS  AND  EAILROADS. 

Mr.  North,  average  haul  of  any  but  Group  I,  has  the  lowest  freight  rate,  52.6% 
of  Group  I,  and  to  understand  this  question  the  rate  of  the  Middle 
States,  0.61,  should  be  interpolated  between  "New  England"  and 
"United  States." 

It  probably  will  not  be  contended  that  the  quantities  moved,  or 
constructed,  in  building  railroads  in  the  States  of  New  York,  New 
Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  Maryland  and  the  District  of 
Columbia  have  averaged  less  than  in  the  New  England  States,  or 
that  the  right  of  way  has  been  materially  cheaper.  But  in  these 
two  groups  the  cost  of  construction  has  been  much  greater  than  in 
the  other  groups.  The  rate  in  Groups  I  and  II  is  0.66  cent  per 
ton-mile  where  there  is  a  population  of  124  per  sq.  mile  and  the 
average  haul  is  103  miles,  but  in  Groups  III  to  VIII  inclusive,  where 
the  population  is  18.8  per  sq.  mile  and  the  average  haul  is  155  miles, 
the  ton-mile  rate  is  0.79  cent.  Groups  I  and  II,  however,  carry 
nearly  three  times  the  tonnage  of  the  other  groups. 

As  for  capitalization,  stock  and  bonds,  "Poor's  Manual"  gives  it 
as  $140  600  for  Groups  I  and  II  and  $49  700  for  the  other  groups. 
The  value  of  this  comparison  is  greatly  impaired  by  the  "water"  in 
the  stocks  of  some  of  the  heaviest  carriers  in  Groups  I  and  II,  and, 
by  the  fact,  or  possibly  theory,  that  the  water  has  been  pretty 
effectually  squeezed  out  of  the  capital  account  of  roads  in  Groups 
TIT  to  VIII.  There  is,  however,  nothing  to  show  that  either  a  short 
haul  or  density  of  population  increases  the  average  freight  rate. 
Nor  is  it  apparent,  as  our  railroad  reformers  declare,  that  a  large 
capital  account  forces,  Tpcr  se,  high  freight  rates. 

Croesus  was  truthfully  told  that  some  one  with  better  steel 
would  take  his  wealth.  But  better  transportation  has  for  centuries 
moved  the  wealth  and  power  of  the  world.  It  supplies  that  com- 
mercial confidence  which  commands  land,  labor  and  capital  in  the 
service  of  production.  When  Brindley,  with  his  coadjutors  and  fol- 
lowers, commenced  canal  building  in  England,  they  provided  that 
country  with  the  cheapest  transportation  in  the  world  and  developed 
that  commercial  confidence  which  carried  England,  with  the  further 
aid  of  its  railways,  to  the  front  as  a  world  power.  But  very  shortly, 
what  Sir  Michael  Hicks-Beach  frankly  admitted  is  a  very  powerful 
interest,  the  railway  interest,  bought  canals  so  as  to  break  up 
through  routes  and  has  succeeded  in  keeping  England's  methods  of 
internal  transportation  and  rates  for  freight  without  substantial 
improvement.  At  present,  according  to  Sir  Michael,  at  a  late 
meeting  of  the  Society  of  Arts,  that  interest  will  prevent  any  en- 
largement of  English  canals.  It  was  between  1870  and  1880  that 
our  average  freight  rates  dropped  below  the  English  rates,  and  since 
that  time,  in  any  comparison  of  industrial  and  consuming  capacity, 
England  has  seemed  anchored. 


DISCUSSION  OX   WATERWAYS  AND  RAILROADS. 

TABLE  12. 


511 


Mr.  North. 


Yeab. 


1880. 


1885. 


1890. 


1895. 


1900. 


1903. 


United  States. 


Miles  of  railroad. . . . 
Freight  hauled 

93  269 

122  110 
437  040  099 
112.46 
1.04 

157  976 
701  344  487 
112.91 
0.93 

20.80 

397.54 

179  154 

755  799  883 

115.96 

0.839 

191455 

1071431919 

131.80 

0.746 

85.20 

397.41 

204  668 
1  299  684  081 

Length  of  haul 

131.79 

Rate  p>er  ton-mile. . . 

0  781 

Population   per 
square  mile 

16,89 
537.59 

Population  per  mile 
01  railroad 

Gkoijp  I. 


Miles  of  railroad 

Freight  hauled 

Length  of  haul 

Rate  per  ton-mile. . . 
Population  per 

square  mile 

Population  per  mile 

of  railroad 


60.42 
670.99 


6  476 
30  186  233 
59.81 
1.56 


7  Oil 
41  5294  970 
69.40 
1.37 

70.82 

670.48 


7  659 
42  183  240 
79.99 
1.24 


7  8« 
54  337  873 
82.94 
1.16 

84.24 

718.06 


7  738 
54  260  898 
85.91 
1.18 


Group  n. 


Miles     of     railroad 
operated 

17  794 
189  619  916 
91.50 
0.84 

19  314 

302  5S0  992 
84.89 
0.82 

121.36 

782.22 

21  890 
337  037  563 
89.52 
0.71 



24  710 
413  573  1»1 
105.86 
0.61 

146.80 

692.27 

23  425 

Freight  hauled 

527  874  019 

Length  of  haul 

105  30 

Rate  per  ton-mile. . . 

067 

Population    per 
square  mile 

100.88 

Population  per  mile 
of  railroad 774.39 

Geoup  III. 


Miles     of     railroad 

operated 

Freight  hauled 

Length  of  haul 

Rate  per  ton-mile. 
Population    perj 

square  mile 46.01 

Population  per  mile' 

of  railroad. 446.31 


42  1991 
182  124  264 
144.44 
0.89 


50  936 
204  659  671 
136.28 
0.79 

54.10 

284.48 


53  732 
215  784  762 
138.10 
0.76 


58  087 
820  631700 
137.73 
0.69 

64.80 

275.67 


60154 
896  044  799 
138.42 
0.70 


Group  IV. 


Miles     of     railroad 
operated ! 

Freight  hauled i 

Length  of  haul \ 

■  Rate  per  ton-mile . . . ' 

Population    peri 
square  mile 28.63 

Population  per  mile 
of  railroad. 747.98 


10  806 

15  888  029 

107.77 

1.85 


14  556 
35  185  795 
111.46 
1.03 

27.65 

5C9.68 


20  443 

45  800  646 

185.72 

0.79 


22.625 

65  547112 

161.69 

0.69 

82.77 

388.60 


24  784 

60  168  159 
160.49 
0.78 


512 


DISCUSSION  ON  AVATERWAYS  AND  RAILROADS. 


Mr  North. 


TABLE   12— (Conti7iued). 
Groop  V. 


Miles  of  railroad 
oi)erated 

Freight  hauled 

Length  of  haul 

Rate  per  ton-mile . . . 

Population  per 
square  mile 

Population  per  mile 
of  railroad 


27.04 


9  249 
19  197  613 
102.43 
1.43 


9  569 
780  161 
98.38 
1.04 

32.36 

788.73 


10  329 
26  779  193 
137.37 
0.89 


9  694 
40  391  899 
141.35 
0.83 


921.12 


Geoup  VI. 


Group  VIII. 


Miles  of  railroad 
operated 

Freight  hauled 

Length  of  haul 

Rate  per  ton-mile. . . 

Population  per 
square  mile 

Population  per  mile 
of  railroad 


1.94 
271.81 


5  835 
5  503  588 
161.74 
3.27 


7  376 

937  953 

191.53 

1.56 

3.17 

307.61 

10  849 
11  690  185 
289.29 
1.81 


13  576 
23  524  092 
249.55 
0.97 


240.17 


10  812 
50  268  899 
145.58 
0.83 


Miles     of     railroad 
operated 

19  541 
27  690  116 
132.32 
1.74 

28  356 

38  272  891 

176.26 

1.35 

10.86 

291.92 

31  744 
43  655  714 
166.88 
1.34 

32  550 
63  015  069 
197.01 
1.00 

13.72 

321.44 

36  712 

Freight  hauled 

93  844  012 

Length  of  haul 

179  37 

Rate  per  ton-mile,. . 

1  00 

Population   per 
square  mile 

8.43 
416.94 

Population  per  mile 
of  railroad 

Group  VII. 

Miles     of     railroad 
operated 

11  666 
16  835  340 
159.15 
1.46 

20  859 

81  633  0(M 

301.33 

1.06 

8.17 

338.60 

33  507 
53  918  571 
199.77 
1.04 

33  370 
61411037 

182.27 
0.95 

10.02 

261.28 

25  892 

Freight  hauled 

77  831  015 

Length  of  haul 

201  95 

Rate  per  ton-mile. . . 

0  91 

Population   per 
square  mile 

5.01 
347.35 

Population  per  mile 
of  railroad 

12109- 
23  334  944 
224.92 
1.16 


The  only  noticeable  improvement  in  England  for  over  half  a 
century  that  competes  has  been  the  Manchester  Ship  Canal.  And 
Mr,  Wells  tells  us  that  in  10  years  the  shipping  entering  the  Mersey 
has  increased  by  66%,  only  about  one-third  of  this  increase 
going  into  the  canal.  It  does  not  seem  possible  that  the  railways 
between  Liverpool  and  Manchester,  which  joined  in  the  fight  against 
the  canal,  have  had  no  increase  of  traffic  through  the  business  de- 
veloped by  this  increase  of  tonnage. 

Comparing  the  services  per  capita  in  1882  and  1900,  as  men- 
tioned above,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  service  of  1900  would  have 


DISCUSSION  ON  WATERWAYS  AND  RAILROADS.  513 

cost  US  $7.10  more  per  capita  if  the  rate  of  1882  had  been  charged.  Mr.  North. 
This  is  not  only  an  addition  of  this  amount  to  the  net  income  of 
every  man,  woman  and  child,  but  it  also  gives  a  bounty  of  about  50 
cents  per  ton  on  the  consumption  of  our  yearly  products.  And  while 
our  area  is  an  important  factor  in  our  long  hauls,  the  low  cost  of  the 
service  enters  largely  into  both  the  length  of  haul  and  the  quantity 
of  our  marketed  products.  It  is  doubtful  if  under  the  artificially 
high  cost  of  transportation  in  Great  Britain  the  adult  males  in  that 
country  could  pay  for  a  service  of  1S6*  ton-miles.  /  /  /  9" 

Apparently  no  more  economies  in  transportation  in  the  service  / 
of  the  public  are  to  be  made  by  our  railroad  companies.  For  over 
20  years  a  propaganda  has  been  preached  for  restrictions  to  rail- 
road building.  The  chief  advocates  are  those  who  at  one  and  the 
same  time  demand  cheapness  and  denounce  "ruinous  competition." 
They  have  been  successful  in  convincing  the  greater  part  of  the 
^-oters  in  the  City  of  New  York  that  a  canal  bringing  8  000  000  tons 
to  their  wharves  will  be  of  more  service  than  one  bringing  20  000  000 
tons.  And  they  are  hoping  to  prevent  inconvenient  competition  by 
curtailing  or  abolishing  those  appropriations  for  the  improvement 
of  our  water  courses  that  have  in  the  past  paid  profits  on  expendi- 
ture unapproached  by  other  large  investments,  either  ISTational  or 
private.  Our  legislators,  executives  and  publicists  are  proposing 
plans  for  control  which  do  not  even  suggest  a  reduction  in  the  cost 
of  transportation.  None  of  them  have  the  courage  to  advocate  a 
return  to  our  one  time  free  railroad  building,  which  would  allow  the 
cost  of  freightage  to  be  governed  by  the  best  management  rather 
than  by  the  desires  of  stoclcholders. 

The  nation  that  will  take  our  wealth  from  us  by  cheaper  trans- 
portation is  not  yet  apparent,  but  its  unexpectedness  may  be  partly 
gauged  by  reference  to  an  assertion  made  by  the  late  A.  S.  Hewitt, 
in  1870,  when  our  freight  rate  was  possibly  the  highest  in  the  world, 
that  England  would  probably  continue  to  make  more  than  half  the 
pig  iron  of  the  world. 


^ 


